


A Programmer's Guide to Love (and Work Visa)

by orichan



Category: Star Wars - All Media Types, Star Wars Sequel Trilogy
Genre: Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, Computer Programming, Dysfunctional Family, Emotional Constipation, Emotional Hurt/Comfort, Enemies to Friends, Enemies to Friends to Lovers, Enemies to Lovers, F/M, Fake/Pretend Relationship, Father-Son Relationship, Marriage of Convenience, Miscommunication, Misunderstandings, Mother-Son Relationship, Mutual Pining, Online Friendship, San Francisco, Sexual Tension, Silicon Valley - Freeform, Slow Burn, Software Programming, Startups, Visa Marriage, Work Visa Issues
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-07-16
Updated: 2020-04-30
Packaged: 2020-06-29 16:34:25
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 12
Words: 61,601
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/19834168
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/orichan/pseuds/orichan
Summary: “…so, no, Ben Solo, unless you want to marry me, there’s nothing—NOTHING—you can do to help my situation!” Rey screamed from the top of her lungs.She turned roughly away when she felt a stray tear roll down her cheek. God damn it. It was so mortifying. Of all the people in San Francisco she could break down in front of, it had to be Ben-fucking-Solo. She took a few steps backwards, intending to spin around and run away before she could embarrass herself any further, but a large hand wrapped around her wrist before she could.“Wait.” He didn’t say any more for a second. He only looked at her, his eyebrows drawing minutely together, as if he was puzzling through a stubborn bug, an impossible problem.Then, just as Rey was about to shake his hand loose, she heard him ask, “Do you want to?”UK borne Rey Unkar thought she finally found a home in Silicon Valley: she has close friends that love her, a great career at Resistance Labs, a vacation to Puerto Rico in the plans, and even an online friend who she can nerd out with on all things C++. Then, her H-1B extension gets denied and she has 10 days before she is required to leave the U.S.





	1. Day 1 (An Almost Regular Wednesday Morning)

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Aka: The author twists the prompt “Rey accidentally proposes to Ben. To her shock, he agrees.” into therapy for her own H1-B mishaps.
> 
> P.S. Thank you to @lovingreylo (Peyton) and @Erulisse17 and for betaing

Taylor Swift’s “Blank Space” was looping for the third time before Rey finally gathered enough conviction to grab her phone off of her side table and turn off the alarm. She groaned, rubbing her face, and forced herself to roll out of the Ikea double bed.

As she navigated the ten feet between her bed and the restroom in her small bachelor suite, she checked her email for urgent work fires. No emergencies, but there was yet another reminder for her work authorization verification. She groaned in helpless agitation. 

She really didn’t need another reminder that her H1-B visa was expiring in a week.

The extension request had been submitted two weeks ago, more last minute than Rey would have liked, but the lawyers had assured her that as long it was in before her current visa expired, she could keep working until they officially renew her visa. They didn’t sound too concerned and given it was completely out of her hands, Rey decided to shrug, delete the reminder, and continue with her day. 

She confirmed the usual Wednesday design review meeting at 10:00am was the first one on her calendar while she brushed her teeth. Good. No need to rush. She even had time to make herself a cup of tea.

She mindlessly booted up the Discord app as she waited for the kettle to boil. A small grin broke out when she saw a familiar icon of a medieval knight at the top right of her screen. It was always nice to wake up to new messages from her favorite online programmer buddy. She clicked on the icon and devoured the DM.

> \---New Message---
> 
> **kyloren Today at 2:31am**
> 
> Question of the day: does this compile?
> 
> #include <string>  
>  void f() {  
>  std::string(foo);  
>  }

Rey got the impression that it was a trick question, but given that she didn’t see the declaration required and actually testing out the code would be cheating, she decided to stick with the only sane answer:

> **coderray Today at 7:24am**
> 
> No. How can anything compile without a declaration?
> 
> P.S. 2:31am? Do you ever sleep?

She couldn’t help herself with the post-script. It was the second time in three days he had sent her messages in the wee hours of the night, despite the fact she knew kyloren lived in the Bay Area just like her. It was one of the few personal details he had told her, beyond what company he worked for. She didn’t know his real name, or even if “he” was really a he. She had assumed so based on his handle, the way he talked, and the fact most C++ programmers in the industry were men, but women in technology often adopted masculine manners in order to be taken seriously (there were reasons why she chose to call herself Ray online), so it was truly a toss-up. 

They had met through the Programming Discord channel a couple years ago, when they bonded over a heated, incredibly nerdy argument on the right way to implement Bloom filters on the C++ channel, until the mods ran out of patience and asked them to move it to their own private channel. Their back and forth continued for another two weeks until they finally called a truce. Since then, they had shared coding misadventures and vented about coworkers until their repartee resulted in her most significant online friendships.

Knowing kyloren wouldn’t respond in real time, she finished making her tea, sat down, and opened Slack. She willfully ignored the Resistance Labs workspace and checked the private one Finn had set up for their Puerto Rico vacation planning.

> \---New Message---
> 
> **Finn Boyega 11:35pm**
> 
> I’m looking into hotels and I’m thinking of this one b/c with our corporate code it’s only $169 a night for a room:[ https://www.marriott.com/hotels/travel/sjupr-san-juan-marriott-resort-and-stellaris-casino/ ](https://www.marriott.com/hotels/travel/sjupr-san-juan-marriott-resort-and-stellaris-casino/)
> 
> **Poe Dameron 12:12am**
> 
> 👍 Looks good. I’ve got Titanium status, if I book the rooms through my account we may get free upgrades
> 
> **Rose Tico 7:14am**
> 
> @Rey Unkar Want to share a room with me?

Sharing a room would cut her hotel cost in half, which would make saving up for the vacation much easier, but Rey found herself hesitating. She knew Finn and Poe would have no issue with rooming together, but Rose and Finn were dating. She couldn’t help but wonder if Rose was only asking because she knew of her financial situation. It felt too close to pity. 

She knew they meant well, but when everything can be taken away at a moment’s notice, the only way to survive was to depend on yourself.

* * *

“Guys, I was doing some more research for our trip yesterday night, and I think we should go to Mosquito Bay,” Rey announced after Rose ordered her usual coffee and joined them in their corner. 

“Peanut, that name alone makes me feel itchy,” Finn whined, scratching his arm as he said it.

Poe snorted and slapped Finn across the back. “Man up, bud.”

Finn turned and jabbed Poe hard on his side. “Hey! You’re not the one who got devoured by bugs at the zoo together. I think the rest of you had ten bites total while I had like ninety-two bites just on my legs.”

His complaints only made Poe laugh harder.

Rose gave Finn a sympathetic pat on his arm. “We’ll make sure you have enough bug spray to ward off an entire village.”

Rey looked away as Finn smiled and gave Rose a kiss on her cheek. Even though they’d been dating a year, she still hadn’t gotten used to their displays of affection. She knew it was stupid and honestly pretty mild, with a soft touch here and a quick kiss there. Yet her stomach dropped every time they acted cute together. It felt wrong to her, like eavesdropping or peeping through windows. 

Rey had never acted like that with anyone. She had a grand total of four unremarkable dates in her life, and even those were more awkward small-talks than anything else. Navigatingthe foster system didn’t help with dating much, and once Rey finally gained her freedom by earning a spot at Stanford, she was too busy juggling studying and part time jobs for relationships or messy feelings. 

She didn’t really have a good excuse now that she was approaching her fourth year of being a full time software developer in the Valley, but, well, why attach herself to anyone when she was perfectly fine on her own? 

“So what’s in Mosquito Bay?” Rose asked, getting them back on topic. Rey felt equal parts guilt and relief Rose scooted a bit away from Finn, having obviously noticed her discomfort.

“It’s a Bioluminescent Bay. The brightest in the world, apparently,” Rey told them, fishing out her phone to search for photos of the bay, “During new moon, it looks like—”

She felt his eyes before she saw him. _Ben Solo_. The second her gaze found him, he turned up his nose and looked away, as if he had just smelled something foul in the air. The righteous anger that had been dormant for over two years immediately rose in her chest.

The last time she saw him, he was ruthlessly testifying in court against his own father for an Intellectual Property infringement case the First Order had slapped on the Millennium Falcon. It was a case of a huge, evil corporation putting a small, homegrown business out of business purely because it could and instead of helping or asking leniency, Ben Solo gave the world’s most brutal testimony instead. In the end, the judge ruled against Han and the harsh 3.2 million dollar damage judgement ultimately put the Millennium Falcon out of business.

And because of that—though not _just_ because of that—the sight of him made Rey seethe.

Finn and Poe looked behind them to see what she was glaring at.

“What’re Severus Snape and General Hugs doing here?” Finn hissed in disdain, loud enough to make Rey wonder if the men in question would hear. 

They hadn’t heard them, or if they had heard, they must have resolved to ignore them, since Armitage Hux continued talking and Ben Solo kept staring at his phone. 

Finn visibly shuddered. “God, just the sight of them brings back nightmares.”

By nightmares, Finn was alluding to his past life at First Order before he jumped ship to Resistance Labs. Finn hated everything about his ex-employer and would gladly spend hours bad mouthing the tech conglomerate to anyone who would listen. He hated the perform-or-else culture, the unreasonable work hours, the lack of diversity, and how the company twisted perfectly good technology into back doors for authorities and weapons for militaries. 

But most of all, Finn hated his program manager, Armitage Hux (or General Hugs, as he and Poe had nicknamed him after a few beers), for allowing last minute scope changes and setting unreasonable deadlines, and he hated Ben Solo (disparagingly named Severus Snape by disgruntled peers for his long-ish dark hair, his brooding I-hate-everyone scowls, and his overall unpleasant personality), the reviled technical fellow who killed two projects Finn had tirelessly worked on because he disagreed with the technical design. 

“What are they doing here? Isn’t First Order’s headquarters near the Ferry Building?” Poe asked.

It was a good question. Sightglass Coffee was situated at 7th and Folsom, a convenient five minute walk from Resistance Labs’ office in the heart of SOMA, but it was definitely not walking distance from the Waterfront.

Rose glanced over and shrugged. “Maybe they’re coffee hipsters that drive all the way out here because they find Philz too mainstream.”

“Or maybe they’re just here to haunt me,” Finn grumbled under his breath.

Unfortunately, this was one of those mysteries that would never be solved. The barista called out their orders at that moment, and the question, along with General Hugs and Severus Snape, were promptly forgotten with the first sip of their perfect cup of morning coffee.

* * *

There was a notification on the Discord app when Rey finally allowed herself to check her phone as a reward for reading through all the unread emails in her inbox.

> \---New Message---
> 
> **kyloren Today at 8:35am**
> 
> It compiles because the C++ standard wants me to have an existentialist crisis.

Rey felt a smile tug at her lips at his use of dry humor. 

> **kyloren Today at 8:37am**
> 
> The standard dictates that anything that looks like a declaration is a declaration.
> 
> std::string(foo); and std::string foo; are the same line of code.
> 
> This stupid trivia created a P1 defect that the algorithm team couldn’t figure out. My team got pulled into an emergency war-room at 8pm to help with debugging 2000 lines of code that we didn’t write.
> 
> I was awake at 2:30am because a moron forgot to name his lock.

As usual, kyloren didn’t fully spell out the issue to her, but after rereading the old message, and thinking carefully for a few minutes, Rey reasoned out what he meant.

> **coderray Today at 9:38am**
> 
> Ah, so instead of initiating the mutex, a lock was declared instead
> 
> What did you do when you made the one character fix?

To her delight, his response appeared on the thread a moment later. It didn’t happen too often, but for once they were both online at the same time.

> **kyloren Today at 9:39am**
> 
> I might have thrown my computer on the ground and had to make a trip to the IT help desk this morning.
> 
> **coderray Today at 9:39am**
> 
> Wow. That bad, huh?
> 
> **kyloren Today at 9:40am**
> 
> I swear to god, I’ll die young because of these imbeciles. Why can’t everyone just be a good programmer like you?
> 
> Can I tempt you to jump ship and join me at First Order? Please? 

Rey was flattered, but between all the awful things she heard from Finn and the fact that Ben Solo worked there, it was never going to happen. And speaking of him… Rey couldn’t help but wonder if he was one of those imbeciles kyloren called out. The possibility made her a little giddy.

> **coderray Today at 9:42am**
> 
> Thanks but no thanks
> 
> When you finally come to your senses and quit First Order, let me know. I am sure I can get you into Resistance Labs

She waited a couple of minutes, but like the other times when she brought up work opportunities at Resistance Labs, kyloren stayed silent. She shrugged after a moment and put her phone away. If he didn’t want to change companies, she wouldn’t force him; besides, she had to get ready for her weekly design review meeting.

It was really too bad. He was a great programmer, and it was sad to watch him waste his talents away in a hell-hole like First Order when Resistance Labs could really use someone like him.

* * *

Rey had just sat down after lunch when the email subject “[EXT] Re: Rey Unkar [KBGFPI01972-9] - H-1B Extension…” popped up at the corner of her screen.

 _Finally_ , she thought. 

She navigated away from the terminal to her inbox. She gave an inward sigh at the bolded “inbox: 42” (she had cleared her mailbox just before lunch, for heaven’s sake) and absentmindedly scrolled to the top of her mailbox. She did a double take when she skimmed the full subject of her latest email.

She reread the subject a second time to make sure her eyes weren’t playing cruel tricks on her. It wasn’t. Or at least, the header remained the same: “ _[EXT] Re: Rey Unkar [KBGFPI01972-9] - H-1B Extension Case Denial.”_

_Oh shit. Oh shit. Oh shit._

* * *

> **From:** Connix Kaydel – kconnix@RESISTANCELABS.com
> 
> **Sent:** Wednesday, July 17, 2019 12:42 PM
> 
> **To:** Unkar, Rey <runkar@RESISTANCELABS.com>
> 
> **Cc:** Rosetta, Riva <rrosetta@RESISTANCELABS.com>, Eelyak, Lema <leelyak@rrlaw.com>;
> 
> **Subject:** [EXT] Re: Rey Unkar [KBGFPI01972-9] - H-1B Extension Case Denial
> 
> Hello Rey,
> 
> Unfortunately, we have received the USCIS decision on your H-1B Extension petition. USCIS has denied our request for your extension.
> 
> At this time, we are working with the company to determine next steps and available options at this time. We understand the level of anxiety and frustration this decision will cause. Please kindly note that we will be working with the company to develop a plan of action and provide you with additional guidance as soon as possible.
> 
> Please let us know if you have any questions or concerns in that regard.
> 
> ***Please note that as per Resistance Labs Policy we are unable to share the reason for Denial***
> 
> Thank you,
> 
> **Connix Kaydel**
> 
> Manager | Legal, Resistance Labs
> 
> Tel/Direct +1 214-832-2335
> 
> kconnix@resistancelabs.com
> 
> This message (including any attachments) contains confidential information intended for a specific individual and purpose, and is protected by law. If you are not the intended recipient, you should delete this message and any disclosure, copying, or distribution of this message, or the taking of any action based on it, by you is strictly prohibited.

* * *

Rey’s heart threatened to beat out of her chest. _Fuck. Fuck. Fuck. Fuck. Fuck._

 _Calm. Stay calm,_ Rey commanded herself. _The email mentioned a plan of action, that’s good, right?_

But it was difficult to not panic when the little Rey did know about the inner workings of the H1-B process told her she was royally screwed.

Out of her desperate need for a distraction, any distraction, Rey fidgeted with her phone. The screen flashed on, and Discord refreshed itself with a new message.

> \---New Message---
> 
> **kyloren Today at 12:25pm**
> 
> Came across this. Might be interesting since you mentioned you wanted to implement some monitoring tools on Linux.[ http://www.brendangregg.com/blog/2019-07-15/bpf-performance-tools-book.html](http://www.brendangregg.com/blog/2019-07-15/bpf-performance-tools-book.html)

On any other day, Rey would have been happy to dive into the article, but Rey had no interest in BPF performance tools or really _anything_ when her mind was full with a million questions that she had no answers to. Her mind was spinning and she felt like she was about to explode or throw up. 

She needed to tell someone. Someone who knew her well enough to have sympathy, but not so well as to remind her of what she might lose and make her cry. Her eyes darted to her phone.

> **coderray Today at 1:02pm**
> 
> The extension for my H1-B got denied
> 
> Don’t know what will happen to me :(

She looked at the message on the screen and took a deep breath, finally feeling a semblance of control. _There._ The truth was out there. The Earth did not explode. She would be okay. 

She had to be.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> \----------------jargons_and_technical_and_SF_stuff.txt----------------
> 
> H1-B: H1-B is a visa in the United States under the Immigration and Nationality Act, section 101(a)(15)(H) that allows U.S. employers to temporarily employ foreign workers in specialty occupations. A specialty occupation requires the application of specialized knowledge and a bachelor's degree or the equivalent of work experience and this is the visa most programmers outside of U.S. get in order to work in Silicon Valley and eventually get a Green Card. The duration of the stay is three years, after which the visa can be extended up to six years. The extension is what Rey is struggling with. 
> 
> Bloom filter: A space-efficient probabilistic data structure, conceived by Burton Howard Bloom in 1970, that is used to test whether an element is a member of a set. Bloom filters are often used to implement searches where the dataset is large and a result must be returned quickly. It's a stupidly specific nerdy thing to argue about, but coderray and kyloren are idiots in their own unique ways. For more info see wiki page: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bloom_filter, and this article on how to use Bloom filters practically: https://medium.com/datadriveninvestor/bloom-filter-a-simple-but-interesting-data-structure-37fd53b11606
> 
> Slack: A popular team collaboration tool that many tech companies in Silicon Valley use. It looks and feels very similar to Discord. 
> 
> Scope Creep: The bane of existence for all developers working on a large project. Scope creep in project management refers to changes, continuous or uncontrolled growth in a project’s scope, at any point after the project begins. 
> 
> Lock/Mutex (the one that kept kyloren awake at 2:30am): In computer science, a lock or mutex (from mutual exclusion) is a synchronization mechanism for enforcing limits on access to a resource in an environment where there are many threads of execution. A lock is designed to enforce a mutual exclusion concurrency control policy. For more info see wiki page: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lock_(computer_science). It's very possible Mutex was initially invited to confuse non comp-sci people.
> 
> The one character fix that Rey alluded to: (Note: this is not exactly the code, but a demonstration of what it may look like) Bugged version: unique_lock(my_mutex); Fixed version: unique_lock g(my_mutex), with g being the name. This is a rather C++ specific problem and mostly because C++ allows for too much in its standards. As someone wise on the internet said, C provides you with a hand gun to shoot you in the foot, C++ provides you with a machine gun to blow your foot off.
> 
> BPF Tools: BPF (eBPF) tracing is a superpower that can analyze everything on linux to find performance wins and troubleshoot software. If you want to learn more. Go read that book referenced in the link kyloren sent to coderray.
> 
> Sightglass: A small, independent SF coffee chain that coffee hipsters are partial to. They specialize in pour overs. If you are in SF, I highly recommend making a visit. https://sightglasscoffee.com/
> 
> Philz: A coffee chain that started in SF in 2003 but had since grown to a 52 locations "monstrosity" across America. Philz coffee is actually pretty good, but it's now too commercialized for many coffee hipsters in SF. https://www.philzcoffee.com/
> 
> Technical Fellows: This is a somewhat common title for VP-equivalent technical position in tech companies


	2. Day 1 (A No-Good-Very-Bad-Awful Day)

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I am speechless at the support for this fic! I hope this second chapter doesn't disappoint. 
> 
> P.S. Thank you to @lovingreylo (Peyton) and @Erulisse17 and for betaing

If there was one truth in the universe, it was that dumpster fires always happened at the worst times. In the thirty-two minutes it took for Rey to eat lunch, get settled, read the email that might destroy her life, and recollect herself enough to actually think about work again, she had missed a forty three message email chain, five DMs from Paige Tico, the technical product manager for Billywig, the virtual reality learning simulator product Rey owned technically, and eighteen mentions on the Slack #Billywig channel.

> \---New Message---
> 
> **Paige Tico 12:42pm:**
> 
> Headset was in restart loop with the latest build
> 
> Firmware team traced defect back to software
> 
> **Paige Tico 12:54pm:**
> 
> Have you had a chance to look at the chain yet? 
> 
> **Paige Tico 12:58pm:**
> 
> *bump*

Rey grimaced at the messages and quickly typed a response before things could escalate to—God forbid—an angry video call from Paige.

> **Rey Unkar 1:05pm:**
> 
> Sorry, just came back from lunch

The response was near instantaneous and Rey found herself wondering if Paige was obsessively checking the DM thread.

> **Paige Tico 1:05pm:**
> 
> Thank God you’re finally on, I was just about to call you
> 
> I synced with Snap and he said the restart loop is likely caused by the emergency simulation modules you implemented

Rey rolled her eyes. Snap from Firmware always blamed someone else first whenever things went south. Rey was 94.5% sure it was his code and not hers that was breaking, but she had to prove it first.

> **Rey Unkar 1:06pm:**
> 
> Okay. I’ll take a look at it now
> 
> **Paige Tico 1:06pm:**
> 
> Awesome! I don’t know what I’d do if you weren’t here

_You might have no choice but to figure that out soon,_ Rey thought bitterly. She wondered if she should let Paige know the bad news since she was her product manager, but decided against it. It wasn’t like she actually knew what having her extension denied meant for her work, and there was no point in creating unnecessary panic.

Rey was about to flip to the massive email chain of doom and gloom when a DM notification from Kaydel Connix appeared on her screen.

> \---New Message---
> 
> **Kaydel Connix 1:07pm:**
> 
> Can you IM?

Rey immediately typed “yes”. Her only other interaction with the woman had been five minutes of entirely forgettable small talk during the last company Christmas party when Poe left to get drinks after introducing the pretty blonde as his girlfriend from Legal, so whatever Kaydel had to say to her must be something to do with the visa fiasco.

> **Kaydel Connix 1:07pm:**
> 
> Are you a full time employee?

Rey wasn’t sure why Kaydel couldn’t find that out from her employee profile, but she quickly typed “yes” again because she knew any other answers would be unconstructive. She tapped her fingers on her desk as she waited for an answer, but two minutes passed with no additional words from Kaydel and Rey felt a little desperate. 

> **Rey Unkar 1:09pm:**
> 
> Do you need anything more from me?

Can you give me more information? What’s the next step? Do I keep working until my current visa expires? Can we reapply?

She had only meant to follow-up, but the questions bubbled out of her anyway. The lack of information was driving her logic-driven programmer brain a little crazy. How was she supposed to behave rationally when there was insufficient input? She stared impatiently at the “Kaydel Connix is typing...” message at the bottom of the screen. After what seemed like an eternity, a frustratingly vague response appeared.

> **Kaydel Connix 1:10pm:**
> 
> I’m setting up a meeting between you, HR, and your immigration case specialist from the law firm tomorrow morning. Please hold your questions until then. The immigration specialist assigned to your case should have the answers.

A meeting with the mockingly innocent title: “Rey Unkar H1-B Decision and Next Steps” popped up at the corner of her screen a second later.

Rey fought the temptation to follow kyloren’s example and throw her computer onto the ground. 

_Urgh. Lawyers._ She closed the thread with an aggressive click and turned her attention back to her inbox. Somehow, while she chatted with Kaydel, the email chain about the bug had grown by another three messages. Rey almost laughed out loud at the absurdity.

She immediately began catching up on the email chain. If she wasn’t going to get any straight answers from anyone until the next day, then she might as well drown her sorrows with work. It was the only logical thing to do.

* * *

The thing about drowning one’s sorrows (whether with alcohol or work or something else) is that whatever caused the said sorrow inevitably comes back to bite one in the ass.

As she suspected, Rey found definitive proof that her code was behaving per specification and it was the gyroscope driver code Snap committed three weeks ago that was spewing gibberish. She sent the ticket back to Snap with a passive aggressive comment (“...I recommend reading _C Programming: A Modern Approach_ , it will give you a better understanding of why this is problematic…”), patted herself on her back for a job well done, and awarded herself with a well deserved break.

She was leisurely making a cup of tea with milk and honey when she saw Poe walk by with a few UI folks. She smiled and waved, expecting Poe to wave back and continue his merry way, but he excused himself and made a sharp turn into the kitchenette instead. There was something in his eyes that told Rey he was not there to socialize.

He waited until the group was out of earshot before he spoke. “Rey, what’s with the notification I got about your work authorization expiring?”

 _Bollocks._ An awkward laugh spilled out of her lips from nerves.

“Ha. About that.” Rey had planned to tell Poe, Finn, and Rose the news herself eventually, but she had forgotten that as the Education Software Team Lead, Poe would get the HR notices that pertained to his team. “I was just informed my H1-B extension got denied.”

“What?!” Poe’s hand slowly moved up to comb his hair back as he processed the information. “Do you know why?”

“I don’t know. Apparently, it’s against company’s policy to tell me the denial reason,” she told him, repeating the emphasized text in the email she had received earlier. She was rather proud of how calm her voice was.

“Do you know what’s the next step? Can you appeal the decision? Can you keep working with us?”

“I don’t know,” Rey repeated, the irritation she felt earlier reared its ugly head as she was reminded just how little she knew and how little Kaydel would tell her. “Your _girlfriend_ told me to hold my questions until my meeting with the lawyer tomorrow.”

“Oh.”

Poe sounded sheepish and a little uneasy. Rey decided she had to stop talking about this before her frustration drove her to make unkind comments about Kaydel that she would undoubtedly regret later. 

“I’ve got to go get ready for my meeting,” she lied. She put the milk back in the fridge, threw out the stir stick, and picked up her cup of tea. A worrying thought came to her when she felt Poe following her exit with his eyes. She stopped in mid stride. “Hey, don’t tell Finn or Rose. I’ll tell them myself once I know more.”

She turned to him and caught his eyes when he didn’t reply. “Okay?”

He gave a resigned nod. “Okay.”

Satisfied, Rey made her escape. She was thankful her deskmates Jess and Cova weren’t at their desks, they always wanted to talk, and she wasn’t sure she could handle their chattiness right now, she was too mentally exhausted. Unable to face work just yet, she dug her phone out of her bag, hoping to check Reddit for some cute animal gifs to cheer herself up but a new Discord alert appeared just as she was about to pull up the app. A wave of anxiety hit her square in her chest. She turned her screen off before she could read anything.

Telling an online friend know about her visa situation seemed like a good idea three hours ago. All she wanted was an outlet for her muddled thoughts. She didn’t consider the obvious fact that her friend would feel the need to respond.

 _You are being absolutely ridiculous_ , she chided herself while she glared at the black screen. It wasn’t like kyloren would be mean about this. At worst, it would be an insincere “I’m sorry to hear that.” 

She forced herself to turn her screen back on.

> \---New Message---
> 
> **kyloren Today at 3:32pm**
> 
> I just walked out of one of the worst interviews in recent memory and saw this. Shit. 
> 
> I didn’t know you weren’t American. 
> 
> I don’t know what to say. Fuck.
> 
> I would say let me know how I can help, but that would be disingenuous. 

Rey smiled a little at the last line. It’s odd. Nothing in his messages was exactly Earth shattering, but they somehow made her feel… better. 

> **coderray Today at 4:05pm**
> 
> I don’t know what to say either. Actually, I just don’t know anything
> 
> I’ll find out more from the lawyer tomorrow at 11, maybe
> 
> Until then, tell me about your bad interview
> 
> I’ll take anything and make me forget about this clusterfuck of a day **😢**

Rey sighed, put away her phone and turned on her computer. At least it was also already 4:05pm, in another hour or so her work day could end, so surely, her clusterfuck of a day couldn’t get any worse. 

* * *

She clearly jinxed herself, because somehow her day got even worse. 

Paige ambushed her just as she was about to turn off her laptop for the day. “Just need you to drop by the firmware triage meeting for five minutes.” 

Like an idiot, Rey believed her and stepped into the proverbial lions den. 

‘Five minutes’ turned into a ten-minute debate about whether it was too risky to change firmware this late in the release cycle (the answer is yes, as always), a twenty-five minute brainstorming session for workaround, and a forty-five minute argument between Poe and the Core Software Team Lead Amilyn on whether it made more sense to implement said workaround in core software or directly in the Billywig code base.

“This workaround will take two full weeks to implement in Billywig and we simply don’t have the resources.” 

Amilyn arched a perfectly elegant eyebrow. “Are you sure?” She asked in a tone that reminded Rey of a mother reasoning with her bothersome child, “I implemented a similar fix back when I was still in the Gaming division and it only took two days. Including regression testing.” 

Needless to say, Poe lost. So, in the end, Rey was voluntold to implement a workaround in her code by the end of the night while the firmware and core software guys got to go home. _Go figure._

The fix itself wasn’t particularly difficult, just time-consuming. Poe offered to stay with her for moral support, but Rey told him to go. She could think better when she was alone, and she really didn’t want to risk talking about her visa issue again. She put on the headphones and got to work while looping “Hot Fuss” by the Killers. 

By the time Rey finished pushing her code and took off her headphones, the sky was dark and the eco-timer had long turned off half the lights on her floor. She checked her phone and grimaced when she saw it was past 9:00pm. Her stomach growled and she decided it was time to pack up. 

She threw her empty tea cups into the bin in one hand, shoved her things into her bag in the other, and skimmed the text messages she missed from Finn.

> **Finn at 6:25pm**
> 
> Peanut, want to grab pho with Rose and I tonight?
> 
> **Finn at 7:02pm**
> 
> If you want to join us we are waiting for a table at Yummy Yummy
> 
> **Finn at 7:18pm**
> 
> We’ve got a table! Come.

_Bloody hell._ She had obviously missed the boat on the dinner at one of her favorite restaurants. Another thing to add onto the long list of things that went wrong today. 

She typed a quick response while she made her way to the elevators. 

> **Rey at 9:15pm**
> 
> Sorry. I was stuck with a P1 ticket
> 
> Just leaving now. Gonna to grab a bite nearby

Burgers, she decided when she finally made it outside. She was going to get a burger from Super Duper Burgers on Mission Street. Not the best burger in town, perhaps, but still good in her opinion, reasonably priced by the San Francisco standards, and a short ten-minute walk. Which was good, because the SoMa neighborhood, or rather, downtown San Francisco in general, perpetually smelled like an unpleasant mixture of fog and piss with a dash of bad BO. There were a few homeless people sitting across the street, but none that looked belligerent, so she relaxed and allowed herself to check her phone as she walked down Folsom. 

> \---New Message---
> 
> **kyloren Today at 6:17pm**
> 
> It was the usual technical interview I give for senior software development positions where I get the candidate to code in real time. 
> 
> When I asked the candidate which IDE he wanted to use, he told me he uses Notepad. 
> 
> Seriously, _Notepad_. 

Rey giggled out loud. Where did the guy learn to code? A cave? 

> **coderray Today at 9:21pm**
> 
> He could be pulling your leg and might be an amazing programmer

She was about to go into detail about a prank she pulled during undergrad on a particularly condescending classmate where she purposefully acted like a total noob in front of him so that she could humiliate him at a coding competition a month later when a loud shout behind her made her jump.

“Trash! Human Trash!”

Rey looked toward the voice and saw a homeless man with grey knotted hair and mismatching clothing on the other side of the street kicking a garbage can while grumbling under his breath. A car drove by and the man repeated himself on top of his lungs. 

She put away her phone and frowned. The homeless man was obviously having a psychotic episode, a sad but unfortunately common occurrence in San Francisco, but as long as he stayed on his side of the street, she supposed she had nothing to worry about. She kept walking.

The pedestrian light on 5th Street turned red. Rey found herself tapping her foot as she waited for the light to turn. 

“Trash! All of you!”

The shout was suddenly much closer than before. Rey stole a side glance and inwardly swore as he started crossing the street. She forced herself to look straight ahead, hoping the man would just ignore her and keep walking. 

Unfortunately, nothing was going her way today. 

The man stopped right behind her and Rey almost gagged at the strong stench coming off of him. Standing so close to him, she could finally make out the nonsensical string of words the man was muttering. Something about being hit and screwed over and lots of swear words. 

_He’s not talking about you,_ Rey reminded herself, but the moment the light turned, she shot across the street, fast.

This, unfortunately, did offend the homeless man. “Fucking trash like the rest of them!”

Rey wasn’t quite running, but she was speed walking like her life depended on it. 

She made it across 4th Street before she tripped over a pothole she didn’t notice and twisted her foot the wrong way. Careening wildly, her shin connected onto the jagged asphalt as she hit the ground. Her hands instantly grabbed her leg as it burned with white-hot pain. 

“Bloody hell,” she hissed as tears stung the corner of her eyes without her permission. It hurt. So much. She pulled her hand away and saw blood oozing from a small but fairly deep cut into her right shin. At the back of her mind, Rey found herself wondering what on earth she had done to earn such bad karma. 

“Are you okay?” A concerned voice asked behind her. 

She spoke reflexively, “I’m fi—”

A very loud honk. Followed by an almost equally loud: “Trash! Human trash!” 

Turning her head, Rey confirmed to her horror, the scary man had caught up while she was down. The light had turned and the man was looking straight at her direction. _Shit. Shit. Shit. Shit._

Pushing herself to her feet, she accidentally scraped her wound and nearly fell from the pain when a hand—a man’s hand—reached out and steadied her by her elbow. The shouty homeless man neared just as she stood up. She instinctively leaned into the stranger’s hand and closed her eyes as the man passed by, mumbling obscenities in his wake. 

She stood there, her heart drumming in her chest, until the stranger moved away. “He’s gone.”

She opened her eyes and reoriented herself, a loud breath of relief escaping her when she saw the crazy man a safe distance away. 

“You alright?”

She tested her injured leg. It hurt when she put weight on it, but she would live. “Yeah,” she replied and turned to face her Good Samaritan. “Thank y—” 

The words abruptly dried up in her throat when her eyes landed on his face. The stranger wasn’t a stranger at all. In fact, it was the second time in her no-good-very-bad-awful day she had seen him. “Ben Solo.”

The surprise on his face quickly shifted to a confused, searching expression.

“We met at the trial,” Rey supplied because she was feeling generous. 

It suddenly occurred to Rey that perhaps testifying against innocent people in trials was something a spineless snake like Ben Solo did on a regular basis and he was actually confused as to which trial she was talking about. “The Millennium Falcon trial.”

No visible reaction. Zero. Zip. This was beginning to get on her admittedly short nerves. Could he really be so heartless as to forget how he testified against his own father a year ago? “The one where you testified against your _father_? I was the one who—”

“I know,” he cut in. The skin below his left eye twitched once. 

Rey could never resist the urge to talk back whenever a man spoke over her. “You mean you know the trial I was talking about or who I am?”

There was a suspiciously long pause between the question and his answer as he shifted his Whole Foods bag to his other hand. “Both.”

Rey rolled her eyes and mentally added “too proud to admit he forgot who she was” and “only able to give aggravating one or two words answers” onto the long list of things that were wrong with Ben Solo. “Well, just in case you mistook me for someone else, I’m Rey. I worked for Han.” 

Ben Solo snorted. “It’s difficult to completely forget the person who satisfied First Order’s request for the Millenium Falcon source code by printing out everything in font size 6 Brush Script out of pure spite.”

Ah, so maybe he _did_ remember her. “It was one of my finer moments,” she replied and couldn’t resist a smug smirk. 

Silence settled around them and Rey found herself shuffling awkwardly. She caught the light on Folsom turning from red to green out of the corner of her eye, and suddenly remembered she could simply _leave_ if she didn’t have anything more to say. She turned toward the crosswalk, about to excuse herself, but Ben Solo spoke first. 

“You shouldn’t be walking around alone at this hour.”

Rey frowned. This hour? It wasn’t even 10:00pm. “Aren't you walking around alone too?” She pointed out, exactly as defensively as she meant to sound. 

Ben Solo had the audacity to look her up and down as if that proved his point. “I'll walk you to wherever you are going.”

Rey couldn’t believe her ears. This was the 21st century and she was a perfectly independent woman. Even if she occasionally got freaked out by crazy homeless people, she still didn’t need that sort of male condescension. “No! I don’t need a dude to chaperone me around and even if I did it certainly wouldn’t be _you_.” She made sure to emphasize the last word with the best glare she had. 

His lips pressed into a tight line. “What's that supposed to mean?”

Could he really be that obtuse? “It means I don’t want to have anything to do with the monster that destroyed the Millennium Falcon.”

“I wasn’t the one who stole someone else’s code.” 

“From that ad builder prototype that you willingly shared with him over a decade ago. Han had no idea you filed a patent for it and he had no idea you sold the patent to First Order. And you know what? A tiny advertising software company like Millennium Falcon would have never gotten on the First Order’s radar unless someone—” she paused and gestured heatedly at him, “—tipped them off!” 

Rey finally took a breath when she noticed passersby were staring. She wasn’t an angry person normally, but the stupid infringement case always made her so furious and Ben Solo’s apparent nonchalance just made her blood boil. “Millennium Falcon was Han’s life and you took that from him.”

"Right, his life." Ben Solo let out a resentful puff. “You’re very defensive of Han Solo for someone who only worked with him for a year.”

“Han is a good man. He doesn’t deserve to have a son like you.” 

He glared down at her and suddenly Rey realized just how tall and wide and intimidating he was. She barely stopped herself from taking a step back. “What? Do you look up to him like a father you never had or something? Because I can guarantee you, he would have disappointed you.”

His words hit her like a slap. 

“So what if I did?” She shot back. She knew logically he didn’t know about her parents—this was the first real conversation they had ever had—but it didn’t mean his words hurt any less. “Han could never disappoint me. Not when my real parents abandoned me when I was six.”

His lips parted. An ‘oh shit’ expression washed over his face. “I—” 

If he were anyone else, she would have let him apologize, but he _was_ Ben Solo, who almost made Finn quit being a programmer, whose betrayal scarred Luke Skywalker so badly he nearly refused to be her thesis advisor, whose own testimony bankrupted Han’s company, and reduced Leia, one of the strongest women she knew, to tears. She wanted him to feel guilty. She wanted him to feel every bit as bad as she felt.

“You’re a monster, Ben Solo,” she spat out before he could finish his sentence.

Then, cheered on by her own righteous anger and frustration from her incredibly bad day, she doubled down and said the cruelest, meanest thing she could think of: “No wonder _everyone_ , even your father and mother, _hates_ you.”

Ben Solo flinched. 

The world’s most obnoxious asshole actually flinched as if he had been slashed across his face. He looked away for a long moment, his jaw clenching. Rey knew right away she hit him hard, cut him deep. She could see the white of his knuckles around his grocery bag as he abruptly walked. For a moment, she thought he would leave without another word, but he halted after just three steps. 

He turned back to her with purpose, an agitated, wild look on his face. Rey expected him to tell her she was wrong, or twist her words back in her face, or just yell at her, but all he did was let out an ugly, hoarse noise that didn’t quite sound like a laugh. Then, his dark eyes caught hers and when he finally spoke his voice reminded her of the coldest winter. 

“Do you really think that I don’t already know?”

Before she could react, he spun on his heel and stomped away.

* * *

Rey knew empirically, the thirteen dollars burger was seasoned and cooked perfectly, but somehow it tasted like sand in her mouth. Her conversation with Ben Solo was on loop in her head, and she found herself regretting her words more and more with each repeat. Her stomach twisted when she remembered the way he flinched and the anguish in that terrible almost-laugh. It was easy to think of Ben Solo as a monster when he was just a face, but now… Now, she could only concede he was also a human being with feelings.

She hurt him. In the heat of the moment, she had crossed the line and out-assholed the asshole, and she wasn’t proud of it. She was ashamed. 

While she rode the MUNI home to the Inner Sunset, she half-heartedly checked her phone and saw a message from kyloren: 

> \---New Message---
> 
> **kyloren Today at 9:24pm**
> 
> I can assure you that was not the case. He used global variables all over the place and he didn’t even know what a circular buffer is.
> 
> It was a complete waste of time.
> 
> P.S. Good luck on your meeting with the lawyer tomorrow.

9:24pm. The messages were sent before she ran into Ben Solo, most likely while she was speed walking away from the crazy homeless man. The world was better then, because that was before she had proven her own capacity for coldblooded cruelty. 

If she ever saw Ben Solo again, Rey decided she would apologize.

But she would likely never see him again. The probability of randomly running into one random person out of the eight hundred thousand people in San Francisco was slim to begin with, and now with her H1-B issues and the fact Ben Solo probably hated her now, the chances had fallen to essentially zero. 

She sighed deeply. 

It was only Wednesday.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> \----------------jargons_and_technical_and_SF_stuff.txt----------------
> 
> Code names in Tech companies: Code names are often set for proprietary products / projects in Silicon Valley. They generally don’t have anything to do with the product itself, but related products / projects generally have related names (e.g., trees, constellations, animals). In Resistance Labs case, everything Rey works on are named after Harry Potter creatures, just because one of the first few programmers in Resistance Lab was and still is a Harry Potter fan.
> 
> Synced: A rather silly jargon PM likes to use just because. It really just means chatted. 
> 
> Firmware: In computing, firmware is a specific class of computer software that provides the low-level control for the device's specific hardware. 
> 
> Driver: A driver in software provides a programming interface to control and manage specific lower level interface that is often linked to a specific type of hardware, or other low-level service. In larger companies, separate teams would maintain firmware and drivers, but since Resistance Labs is relatively small and doesn’t manufacture their own hardware (they source parts from vendors), drivers are also written in the firmware team.
> 
> Core Software: In this case, I was referring to the shared backend software between the two divisions in Resistance Lab (a virtual reality): Education and Gaming. 
> 
> IDE: Stands for integrated development environment. It’s a software that programmers code on and it generally consist of a text editor, build in automation tools, and a debugger. Popular C++ IDE includes Microsoft Visual Studio, CLion, Xcode, Emacs, Vim (last two options are only IDE if you add in the plug-ins). Note, Notepad is NOT an IDE, it’s a text editor, a really crappy text editor that doesn’t even understand line ending. It’s like a graphic artist saying their favorite graphic software is Paint. This is why kyloren was making fun of the candidate for using Notepad
> 
> Global variables: Global variables are variables that are visible throughout a program. Generally, because C/C++ programs are written in components by different teams, you want to avoid global variables since you can easily introduce defects via conflicting variable names. Instead, a good C/C++ programmer use mostly Static variables (variables with limited scope to the containing file). 
> 
> Circular buffer: A data structure that uses a single, fixed size buffer that’s connected end to end, usually used when you need to shift all elements once one was used. Great for first in first out implementations. For more info read wiki page: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Circular_buffer
> 
> SoMa: A large neighborhood of San Francisco that is located South of Market street. Parts of SoMa is quite nice, but part of it is a bit shady. SoMa is the home of many of the city’s museums and HQ of several major software and internet companies. 
> 
> 4th and Folsom: This is the intersection in SoMa where Ben and Rey met, there’s nothing particularly interesting about this corner except that it’s a block away from the Whole Foods Ben was shopping at and 2 blocks from the Super Duper Burgers location Rey was going to.
> 
> Super Duper Burgers: Nice burger chain in the Bay Area. It’s fast food, but it’s tasty food. https://superduperburgers.com/
> 
> Muni: The San Francisco Municipal Railway (SF Muni or Muni) is the public transit system for San Francisco. SF is a fairly walkable city with very few parking spots, but its public transportation system is only okay at best. All the trains in the Muni actually moves on road-level tracks for most of its route, meaning they constantly have to stop for cars and people, in addition, buses in the city is frequently late. This is one of the reasons why so many people use Uber and Lyft in the city.
> 
> Inner Sunset: Another neighborhood in San Francisco. It’s about a half hour Muni ride away from downtown and it has lots of reasonably priced ethnic restaurants. 
> 
> Yummy Yummy: A family run Vietnamese place in Inner Sunset. The pho is crazy good. This is Rey, Finn, and Rose's favorite pho spot in the city, and they live just a few blocks from the shop. https://www.yelp.com/biz/yummy-yummy-san-francisco


	3. Day 2 (A Category Three Bad Meeting)

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you to @lovingreylo (Peyton) and @Erulisse17 and for betaing

There was a Kouign Amann on her desk when Rey got into the office that morning. She looked around, hoping to find out who left her favorite pastry and was satisfied with an answer from Jess who smiled and pointed her thumb at Poe’s office. Throwing her bag down on her chair, she grabbed the pastry and made her way to his open door.

She leaned on the doorway and knocked on the glass wall to get Poe’s attention. He looked up, pulled off his airpods, and grinned. “Didn’t expect to see you so early.” 

She rolled her eyes. “Unlike other people last Friday, I have a good work ethic,” she said, digging at him for strolling in close to noon after the company picnic the day before turned a little wild. 

An incredulous expression crossed Poe’s features. “I was working from home that morning, thank you very much.” 

Rey rolled her eyes again. “Of course you were.” She took a bite into the Kouign Amann and instantly smiled as the sugar and butter melted in her mouth. She waved the pastry in the air. “Thanks for getting me this. I’m going to get a cup of tea to go with it.”

“Actually, before you do that, do you have a moment to talk?” 

Poe sounded uncharacteristically serious. Rey frowned. “Is there something wrong with the fix from last night?” 

“Nope, it was perfect as usual,” Poe told her as he gestured for her to take a seat and close the door. 

She raised a questioning eyebrow but did as she was asked. 

Poe resumed speaking the moment she sat down. “How are you?”

Rey shrugged and gave her usual answer. “I’m fine.” She wasn’t exactly lying. She might have had a meltdown and murdered Ben Solo with words, but she did survive one of the worst days in recent memory, didn’t she? 

Poe gave her a look that said he didn’t fully believe her.

“What? I was even able to sleep a full seven hours,” she bragged, though her ability to sleep had nothing to do with her state of mind and everything to do with the fact that sleeping anytime anywhere was her superpower, like how Thor could summon lightning, or how Groot could regenerate his tree-body. It was an extremely useful superpower to have growing up especially once she started living in the small attic above Plutt’s noisy garage. 

Not that she would ever tell Poe, of course, he probably pitied her enough as it was. 

“I’m impressed by how well you’re taking everything.”

“What would worrying really do anyway? It’s not like I’ll know my fate until I talk to the lawyer in—” she pulled out her phone from her back pocket for the time, “—an hour and a half.” She ignored her stomach’s uncomfortable flip-flop as she said the time out loud.

“I asked Kaydel about your case last night. She said she didn’t know more than what she told you already, but that your extension request could have been rejected because of something as small as an empty check-box, so maybe the lawyer can just quickly refile for you.”

It was nice to know this could potentially be a quick fix, but Rey wasn’t entirely sure how she felt about Poe speaking with Kaydel about her. On one hand, she was a little touched he thought about her during his free time, but on the other hand, it felt a little like he was talking behind her back. It made her uncomfortable, so she decided it was probably safest to just end the conversation as soon as she could. “I’ll update you with all the details after my meeting with the lawyer. Anything else you wanted to talk about?”

“I think you should tell Finn and Rose.”

Rey felt her cheeks strained from her forced smile. “I’ll tell them once I find out more. Was that all?”

Poe mercifully nodded and Rey made a conscious effort to avoid springing out of the office like a spooked cat.

* * *

She was done reading and addressing all her emails before she finished her cup of English Breakfast tea. There were only twenty new emails in her inbox, half of them were QA reports that confirmed her emergency fixes from the night before had passed their test cases. It was such a drastic change from the rapid fire emails from the day before that Rey couldn’t help but think perhaps everything was  _ too  _ peaceful and that this was merely the calm before the storm. That, along with the impending meeting, made her restless and irritable.

Cova was talking to herself again like she always did whenever she was debugging her code and music was leaking from Jess’s headphones just loud enough for her to know it was bad hip-hop but not exactly which song. Rey let herself indulge in a fantasy where she shut the two women up with well placed Silencio charms for a long moment before putting on her headphones and blocking them out.

She mindlessly fidgeted with her phone. She read through the few Discord channels that she sort of followed, rolling her eyes at the usual dumb questions and answers, smirking at a funny screenshot an absurd IT ticket, and —oh, who was she kidding—there were no new messages from kyloren. 

Which didn’t really mean much, they both had a full time jobs that often involved back-to-back meetings, and furthermore, it wasn’t like there was a rule about replying to Discord DMs within nine hours. So really, there was no reason to be disappointed by his lack of response. And it would be ridiculous to send him another message just because she wanted to bait a reply from him. She certainly wasn’t that desperate to talk to him. Nope. No way. She was clearly just bored. 

> **coderray Today at 10:05am**
> 
> Here’s a conundrum for you: What does a developer do when she needs to work but can’t focus enough to actually solve anything?

It was a rhetorical question, because as a very hungover Finn once declared, the only right answer to that question was bug triaging. There were always more defect tickets to review, it was mind numbing work, and it didn’t take much brain power to send tickets back to the creator due to “not using the latest build” or “cannot reproduce due to insufficient logs” or “the issue is not in my system”. In any case, if Finn could triage bug reports the morning after drinking a bottle of rum and five pints of beer, surely, she could do the same while she was sober. Even when a potentially life changing meeting was hanging over her head.

And so, Rey put down her phone and got to work

* * *

There were three types of calls that Rey hated. The first type was the kind that required her to waste an hour just so she could speak up for three minutes with a status update that she could have very easily given in an email. The second type was the kind that went so wildly off topic that none of the topics on the agenda were actually discussed. The third type was the kind where the majority of the meeting was filled with awkward small-talk because the required attendee was decisively late but not quite late enough to reschedule the meeting. 

As far as Rey could tell, “Rey Unkar H1-B Decision and Next Steps” sat squarely in the third category. Lema Eelyak, the immigration case lawyer handling her case and the only one with answers, was stuck on another call. She told them that she would be joining them in three minutes five minutes ago. 

In the nine minutes since the meeting had started, Riva Rosetta from HR, Kaydel, and Rey gave the respective awkward introduction, exhausted the wonderful topic of weather (”Can you believe it’s 57 degrees in San Francisco but 87 degrees in San Jose?”), the ridiculous housing prices in San Francisco (“I was house hunting this weekend and this ancient 800 square feet one bed-room apartment was selling for 1.45 million”), and Riva was now trying to fill the silence with questions about weekend plans.

Rey knew Riva meant well, but she was losing patience. “I guess  _ that  _ depends on the outcome of this meeting, if Lema is still planning to join us.”

Silence.

Then, Kaydel coughed and said she would give Lema another ping. 

It was another full minute before Lema Eelyak joined the call with a perfectly unruffled: “Hello everyone, this is Lema Eelyak.” There was no hint of an apology, not even an insincere one.

“Wonderful, now that everyone is here, let’s get started,” Kaydel said after a moment. Rey was thankful Kaydel was the facilitator since she didn’t think she would be quite as cordial. Shakespeare’s “the first thing we do, let’s kill all the lawyers” was looping in Rey’s mind for the first time since her Year 10 English Literature class read Henry VI.

“Lema, do you mind giving us a summary on Rey’s work authorization status?”

“We’ve received a physical denial letter for Rey’s I-129 petition today from USCIS.”

What Lema said wasn’t exactly new information, but having it said out loud suddenly made everything feel very real. Rey inhaled deeply to calm herself. “Does that mean I have to stop working when my current H1-B visa expires next week?”

“My understanding is that you must stop working immediately after we’ve received a denial letter. Lema, can you confirm?” Kaydel asked, but the tone of her voice told Rey the question was mere formality.

“That is correct, as of today, Rey is no longer authorized to work in U.S..”

_ Crap. _

Before Rey finished racking her brain for an intelligent followup question, Riva spoke up. “I just double checked our employee policy around expired work authorization, it looks like I’ll have to place Rey on a B4 leave of absence with today as the start date.”

Rey slowly exhaled. Perhaps being forced onto a leave of absence wouldn’t be so bad? She would be a little bored, but it could be like a paid vacation and—

“I’ll setup the unpaid leave right after this call.”

The word “ _ unpaid  _ ” rang in her ears. She instantly tried to remember how much she had in her account after her last student loan payment. She swallowed hard.

“Thanks Riva. Lema, what are the next steps on your end? Will we be able to appeal the denial decision?” Kaydel asked helpfully, continuing the conversation when Rey couldn’t. Rey was rapidly warming to her.

“An appeal would take over six months in the current environment. We will be refiling Rey’s extension again instead.”

“How will refiling change the decision?” In computer programming, doing the same thing over and over again and expecting a different answer was the definition of insanity.

“We will modify our filing based on the denial reason. In addition, the decision may change simply because we have a different adjudicator,” Lema replied matter-of-factly, as if it was common knowledge that the H1-B process was based purely on random chance. Although, since a lottery dictated who would obtain a H1-B to begin with, maybe she had a point.

“Why did I get rejected?”

“Based on Resistance Labs’ policies, I’m not allowed to disclose the reason.” 

“How long would the refiling and decision take so I can get off the  _ unpaid _ leave?” 

“I’ll have to review your case and get back to you later.”

The response was so stereotypical lawyer-y that Rey would have been amused had it not been at her expense. “You can’t even give me a rough estimate?” 

“I’ll have to get back to you on that,” the lawyer repeated. 

The Shakespearean quote floating in her mind suddenly grew much louder. Rey muted her phone just so she could growl in frustration and swear under her breath. 

“I’ll setup a follow up call for tomorrow,” Kaydel placated and moved the conversation forward. “In the meantime, since Rey is officially on leave of absence starting today, are there any actions she has to take before the end of the day?”

“Yes, she needs to log her time for the last two days, give us her personal contact email and number, and return her laptop and any other Resistance Lab’s properties to the IT help desk.” 

Rey quickly searched Slack for the IT help desk hours and glanced at her calendar. “I have a two hours design meeting from 3:30 to 5:30pm.” 

“No you don’t, you are already on a leave of absence.”

Rey tried to make sense of what Riva was implying but something just wasn’t connecting in her brain. “But I need to attend that meeting, I am the only one who knows the code in the new emergency simulation module and—”

“You should be doing administrative activities only,” Riva interrupted firmly. “No work should be done when you are on leave. Meetings on any projects you are working on are considered work.”

_ Oh.  _ That made sense, but— “Even if I don’t attend the meeting, I still don’t think I will have enough time to knowledge transfer to Cova or Jess so they can take over while I’m gone. I need at least two days, neither of them work as closely as I do with the firmware team. I will need to teach them how my code interface with the gyroscope and accelerometer—”

Rey stopped when she heard Kaydel’s sympathetic sigh. “I'm sorry, but you should really stop working. Trust me, you’ll need the time to prepare for exiting the country.”

“Exiting the country…” Rey echoed and she suddenly noticed her heart was beating so hard, she could hear her own pulse. 

Rey knew a few friends of friends who had to go back to their home countries after losing the H1-B lottery a year out of college. She had also heard from Rose that one of her colleagues had to return to India after his visa expired, but that was just something that happened to  _ other  _ people. The possibility that she might be kicked out of the country where she built her life the moment she escaped Plutt, the only country she ever felt at home in, was so unimaginable she honestly hadn’t considered it at all. 

She was suddenly filled with the same panic and helplessness as the one time when Plutt’s ugly beige Toyota Sienna careered out of control toward a speeding truck on the M1 with her in the passenger seat. Except Plutt managed to regain control at the last moment that day, but no one could save her from her visa situation. The top of her mouth went so dry she could only whisper her next question. “How long do I have?”

“To avoid adding unlawful presence time to your name we recommend you leave the country within ten days unless you have other means of securing legal residency.” 

“Other means?” A cautious lawyer like Lema would never say  _ that _ unless there was a common loophole. For a moment, Rey reminded herself that Plutt regained control of the car in the last moment and everything worked out and she let herself hope—

“Do you by any chance, have an American significant other?”

—And just as quickly as it came, that flicker of hope extinguished.

* * *

Of the six floors that made up of Resistance Labs headquarters in San Francisco, the women’s restroom on the third floor was by far the most pristine and the most unused. This was because the third floor was entirely made up of the core software, firmware and hardware prototype teams, and even in a progressive company like Resistance Labs, the female to male ratio on those teams was roughly 2:8. 

Rey had discovered this useful fact after a meeting with the firmware team two months into her tenure at Resistance Labs. Ever since then, she made the pilgrimage two floors down from the fifth floor, where the education development team sat, whenever she needed an extended internet break or when she needed a bit of time to herself. 

She stalked out of the conference room like a catatonic zombie and punched the elevator button for level three. She didn’t cry—there was no point—but she did lock herself in the back stall to mope in peace. Which, admittedly, also wasn’t very productive, but after being told she was put on unpaid leave and being deported in ten days all in thirty minutes,she was  _ allowed  _ to mope, thank you very much. 

_ Oh God  _ . 

She plopped her forehead on the stall door, which was most definitely full of germs, but she didn’t care. She had two months of contingency funds (if she stop repayment to her student loan), she had no American boyfriend (no boyfriend, period) to save her, the stupid lawyer couldn’t even tell her how long it would take to straighten everything out (if ever), and she was about to be “voluntarily” deported in ten days. 

_ Deported _ . Back to U.K. where she had no life and no friends and no family. Where was she supposed to go? Back to Birmingham? Rent would be cheap there at least, maybe she could stretch her savings to four months before she had to work again, and she knew the city inside and out, but jobs weren’t there even before the Brexit fiasco and—  _ bloody hell  _ —Plutt still lived there, probably. 

Actually, could she even work while she was on leave? Wasn’t there some sort of non-compete stipulation in her contract? 

She opened her note app and typed that question down. But one thing led to another, and another, and the next thing she knew, she had spent twenty minutes typing a ridiculously long to-do list next to a toilet. 

Rey liked to-do lists ever since she was little. They always gave her a sense of purpose and control (false as it may be) even when life was at its most random and the world seemed to be working against her for no apparent reason. So, as she often did when she felt powerless in the past, Rey began to follow her list. 

She opened Discord. There were still no new messages from kyloren but after everything that had happened, she didn’t care. 

> **coderray Today at 11:54am**
> 
> Just had my meeting with the lawyers and HR
> 
> They put me on an unpaid leave and told me to leave U.S. in 10 days
> 
> I’m so fucked

There, she told someone what happened. One item down, sixty-two more to go. 

* * *

Rey was in Poe’s office less than fifteen seconds after she saw him returning from the corner of her eye. She closed the door behind her with an assertive swing and sat down in one of his chairs like she owned it. 

“We need to talk,” she told him. She was a woman on a mission and she didn’t wait for him to speak before she continued. “I had my meeting with the lawyer.”

Blinking in surprise, Poe nodded. “How did it go?”

“Horrible,” Rey replied bluntly, not in the mood to sugar coat anything. “Long story short, I’m on an  _ unpaid  _ leave as of this morning, I’m expected to only do administrative activities this afternoon, and I have to return all company property by the end of the day.”

Poe opened his mouth and closed it.

“Also, I think I’m being deported,” Rey added with a wave of her hand. 

To anyone watching from the outside, it would look as if Rey was merely providing an unimportant detail, but once Poe managed to get past the dissonance between the nonchalant tone of her voice and what she was actually telling him, he jumped out of his seat. 

_ “What?”  _

“The lawyer said the law firm will refile my H1-B, but she won’t be able to tell me how long that will take until tomorrow. I assume that means it would take a while, so yeah, I’ll have to leave,” Rey explained calmly. She had knocked out over ten items in the last forty minutes and it made her almost zen.

“Did they tell you why you were rejected?”

“Who knows, maybe they just had a bad day,” she half joked. 

“That’s utter bullshit!” 

Rey shrugged. 

Poe ran his fingers through his hair a few times. “You have to tell Finn and Rose.” 

“Already in the plan. I booked dinner with them tonight. I’ll tell them then.” 

Poe looked at her thoughtfully for a long moment before finally sitting back down. “Shit. I’m so sorry this is happening to you.”

“It is what it is,” she replied with a tight smile. “Listen, I’m just here to let you know what’s happening. I’m thinking of knowledge transferring to Cora. I won’t be able to transfer everything, but maybe I can give an overview?”

“Cova is probably the right person,” he replied as he listlessly tabbed his fingers. He looked at her straight in her eyes. “Look Rey, if there’s anything I can do…”

Rey checked her to-do list. “I need coverage in the design meeting I was supposed to be in later this afternoon.”

“Of course.” 

“Thanks. I’ll forward the invite to you in a moment.” Rey pushed herself up. “They are taking my phone, so I’m going to head out to get a plan, get my number transferred out, and then I’m going to take a long lunch break at the Ferry Building.” 

“Yeah, no problem,” Poe said, just as she knew he would. 

She was almost at the door when Poe called out, “Hey, take as long as you need. Focus on yourself right now.“

The back of her throat tightened like it always did when people said undeserving nice things to her. Rey closed her eyes and commanded herself to breathe. She sent Poe a shaky nod, and with that, she took her leave. 

* * *

“Hi miss, let me know—” 

“I’m good. Just browsing,” Rey replied before he could finish his question. The sales associate must be either bored or new. It was the third time he approached her. She flashed a smile as an afterthought. She had worked in retail before and she didn’t like to be too rude, but honestly, she just wanted to be left alone already. 

Rey turned her attention back to the stupid prepaid pamphlet, the same one she had been staring at for a full five minutes. The $35 plan was out because 1GB of data wouldn’t last over a day. The $85 was out too, based on cost considerations. $50 sounded more reasonable for a temporary phone plan and 8GB might be enough for ten days of hotspot usage if she disabled all video streaming, but for $15 more she could get unlimited, although throttled data. Hmmm… decisions, decisions.

The automatic door slid open behind her and the siren from a passing ambulance blasted into the store. The over enthusiastic sales associate walked past her toward whoever just walked into the store. “Hello, welcome to AT&T. Anything I can help you with?”

Finally. Someone else to keep the man occupied. 

“I need a case for an iPhone X.” 

The sales associate’s eager response was completely lost to her. Not because his reply was boring (though it probably was) but because the voice of the man who wanted a new case was familiar, but not quite familiar enough to recognize its owner. Someone from the UI team perhaps? Or could it be one of the random developers she met at the hackathon she went to last month?

“Preferably something that would keep the phone safe even when it’s thrown across the room,” the man said as if shot-putting iPhones was part of his everyday job. 

She had definitely heard this voice recently, maybe as recently as yesterday. Wait.  _ Yesterday _ . There was a nearly audible click as she made the connection. She spun her head toward the voice to confirm her hunch. Wavy dark hair. Same black hoodie as the night before.  _ No. Way.  _

There were over eight hundred thousand people in San Francisco, and yet, somehow, standing by the phone case display was  _ him. _

“...saw a few videos of Youtubers dropping their iPhone in the Otterbox case off multi-story buildings without a scratch...”

And then, most likely because he felt her gaze, Ben Solo looked up. And Rey knew she should turn away like a normal person, but she couldn’t, it all felt too surreal. She wasn’t sure how long they stood just staring at each other, but it must have been too long, because the sales associate was starting to glance between the two of them in confusion. 

“Er, just let me know if—”

Ben Solo cocked his head toward the sales associate. “I’ll take that case.” 

He followed the sales associate to the checkout counter as Rey tried to shift her focus back to the pamphlet as he walked away, only to find her brain uncooperative. Every detail of their conversation the night before was replaying in her mind in full, cringe-worthy detail. 

_ “No wonder everyone, even your father and mother,  _ hates  _ you.” _

God, that was mind-bogglingly mean. He didn’t deserve that. No one deserved that. 

She should really apologize. 

She looked up, expecting to find him still at the checkout counter, only to find he had finished paying for his case and was halfway out of the store without so much as a glance her way. 

“Hey wait!” 

He didn’t hear her, or maybe he did and he was purposefully ignoring her, but either way, he didn’t slow down. For a moment, Rey’s conviction wavered. He obviously didn’t want to talk to her, so maybe she should just leave him be.

_ “Do you really think I don’t already know?” _

She had to set things right. She threw down the pamphlet and chased after him out the door. 

“Wait!” She said again when she was an arm length away and when he still didn’t stop, she reached out and closed her fingers around his wrist. 

He froze mid-step and his head snapped toward her at the contact. Once she was sure she had his attention, she let go.

“About yesterday—I’m sorry, I was out of line,” she told him in a single breath, before she could lose her nerve. 

His lips parted as he looked at her with an obviously surprised, but very perplexed expression that drove her to explain further. “I mean, that thing I said about…” she trailed off, too mortified to finish the sentence. 

“The fact that everyone hates me?” There was something on his angular face that didn’t quite match his flat tone. 

She winced. The words sounded out loud just as nasty as they did in her head. “Yeah. That.” 

He didn’t sound angry, more detached, like he was merely naming a fact and that made her feel worse. “That was uncalled for. I wasn’t thinking when I said it. I had a horrible day yesterday, though maybe today isn’t any better, and—” 

“It’s fine.”

“No, it’s not.” 

The slow breath he took sounded like a sigh. “You had a bad day. I have said far worse on my bad days.” 

“Yeah, but unlike you, I’m—” she stopped herself before she could insult him again. She slapped a hand across her forehead and groaned miserably. What was wrong with her? “I promise I’m not usually this rubbish at apologies.” 

Ben Solo peered down meaningfully at her. “I wouldn’t know.” 

She supposed she deserved that jab. “Let me buy you dinner or something to make it up to you.”

“No.”

She gaped at the speed of his rejection. “Why not?” 

“Because it’s totally unnecessary.” 

But Rey was not so easily deterred when she made up her mind on something. “At least let me grab you coffee. I saw you at Sightglass yesterday. It’s Thursday, there should be a Sightglass booth right across the street at the Ferry Building—” He tilted his wrist and glanced at his Apple Watch and Rey suddenly remembered that it was the middle of a work day and not everyone was on a leave of absence like her, “—Unless you have a meeting in the next half hour?”

After a long, suspenseful pause, he conceded, “I don't.”

Rey smiled at the small victory. “So coffee?”

The corners of his lips curled up ever so slightly. “Coffee.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> \----------------jargons_and_technical_and_SF_stuff.txt----------------
> 
> Kouign Amann: A very delicious pastry that you can buy in most of the hip bakeries in San Francisco. It’s a round multi-layer flaky cake with lots and lots of butter (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kouign-amann). Poe picked up the Kouign Amann Rey was eating at Sightglass, which source their Kouign Amann from a very good bakery called B. Patisserie (https://bpatisserie.com/)
> 
> Bug Triaging: The official goal of bug triaging is to evaluate, prioritize and assign the resolution of defects. What that essentially amounts to in a real world tech firm is a never ending game of hot potato between various development and testing teams, where everyone’s goal is to get their name off the bug as quickly as possible so that PMs and upper management would stop bothering them. 
> 
> San Francisco Summer Weather: San Francisco summer is not much warmer than its winter due to the wind and the fog from the ocean. There’s a common quote popular in San Francisco that said: "The coldest winter I ever saw was the summer I spent in San Francisco." This is often attributed to Mark Twain, but there is actually no evidence in the papers and speeches of Mark Twain that he ever made this remark about San Francisco.
> 
> San Francisco Housing Price: San Francisco is one of the most expensive housing market in U.S. due to tech money (which we will explore more in a later chapter since our Ben Solo is one of those people with tech money). The median listing price is about 1.3 million dollars. To learn more about how crazy San Francisco housing market is please read this article: https://www.businessinsider.com/san-francisco-housing-market-facts-rent-2019-5
> 
> I-129: This is the Petition for a Nonimmigrant Worker form. Petitioners use this form to file on behalf of a nonimmigrant worker to come to the United States temporarily to perform services or labor, or to receive training, as an H-1B nonimmigrant worker.
> 
> Hackathon: An event in which computer programmers and others involved in software development, including graphic designers, interface designers, project managers, and others, come together and intensively work together on software projects. Hackathons can be small meetups in someone’s living room or a multi-days, competitive ones with prize money on the line. 
> 
> Ferry Building: The San Francisco Ferry Building is a terminal for ferries that travel across the San Francisco Bay, a food hall and an office building. It is located on The Embarcadero in San Francisco, California. Every Thursdays, Sightglass (the coffee shop Rey was in two chapters ago) runs a stall in the weekly farmer’s market in front of the building.


	4. Day 2 (A Hapless Girl Versus the World)

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you to Erulisse17 for betaing.

There was a respectably long line at the Sightglass booth. Not unexpected, there was always a line for anything worth eating or drinking in San Francisco, but it did mean the silence was getting increasingly awkward. At least to Rey. As far as she could tell, Ben Solo was perfectly content with the silence, but then again, he probably never heard stories about her the same way she had heard stories about his asshole-ish behavior from Luke, Han, and Finn over the past decade. 

Rey had accumulated many burning questions for Ben Solo throughout the years, but questions like “Bro, what made you decide to screw over your  _ own  _ father?” or “Dude, you fucking had it all, how could you let it all go?” weren’t exactly appropriate for an apology coffee outing. She was nearly resigned to the silence when she suddenly got a flash of inspiration. 

“Do you really throw your phone across the room every day?”

He looked down at her with a puzzled expression.

She gestured at the little AT&T bag hanging on his wrist. “You said you preferred a case that would keep your phone safe even if it’s thrown across the room as if you do that every day.” 

He gave an indignant grunt. “I don’t throw my phone across the room every day.”

“Okay, but you threw your phone across the room recently.” 

“What makes you say that?” he asked, but Rey could tell from the way he shifted his weight that her deduction was spot on. 

She smirked a little, unable to contain herself. “You sacrificed a lunch break to buy a phone case at AT&T. No one  _ ever  _ does that for fun.”

“Well,” he acknowledged with a defeated huff, “IT told me they won’t replace my phone this time unless I buy myself a case.” 

“This time?”

He nodded, once. “They’ve never had an issue replacing it before. But the guy at the help desk today was being an ass.” 

Her Cheshire Cat grin widened. “Exactly how many times have you shattered your screen this year?”

“Three times,” he admitted. Rey could clearly tell from the way he rolled his eyes and waved his free hand that he was exasperated by the ordeal, “But that’s besides the point, it isn’t like he actually pays for the phones, so who cares?” 

She tried to be sympathetic, she really did, but she fully understood the IT guy’s point of view. They were only halfway through the year, after all. 

“On the bright side, think of all the hours you’ll save from not needing to swap phones every few months,” she quipped, which was as diplomatic as she could get. 

It was probably good timing that the people in front of them finished ordering because Ben Solo was scowling at her, evidently not in the habit of being teased.

“What can I get for you folks today?” 

Rey took a step forward and grinned at the barista behind the booth. “Latte. No foam for me, and...” Rey looked back at Ben Solo. 

“Which coffee do you have for pour over today? I’m looking for something with a citrus note.”

This fully proved Rose’s hypothesis about Ben Solo being one of those coffee hipsters that found Philz too mainstream. Rey had to bite her tongue as the barista listed out the featured coffees to stop herself from snorting out loud.

He settled for a cup of the Worka Chelbessa, which apparently had the tasting notes of peach, boysenberry (whatever that was), and elderflower. 

“Ah, a coffee connoisseur,” she exclaimed with a lopsided smile and turned back to the barista to pay. 

“What’s so funny?” 

Rey followed him and moved aside to wait for their order. “Nothing. It’s just that ‘coffee tasting notes’ is such a ridiculously pretentious concept, especially when you consider how Americans only started drinking coffee as a fuck you to Great Britain.”

His lips twitched into the ghost of a smile and he didn’t argue her point like she half expected. 

She took a moment to crack her neck. He was so tall. It was straining to peer up at him as they stood next to each other. As she tilted her head, she could see people lining up at stands some distance away. “Do you know if any of those food stands are good?”

His eyes darted toward the direction of her gaze for a moment. “I don’t know, I’ve never tried any of them.” 

“Isn’t the First Order office like a block away?” 

He shrugged. “I usually just have Soylent for lunch.” 

She made a face, though the fact Ben Solo would choose to drink non-descript, bland, soy based meal replacement instead of actually eating food and,  _ you know _ , enjoying life, might explain a lot about him. “You know Soylent is banned in Canada because it doesn’t actually meet their requirements for a meal replacement, right?” 

“I eat solid food for dinner. It’s just nice to be able to finish lunch while I go between meetings.”

_ Did he realize how sad he actually sounded?  _ “You know lunch isn’t purely about putting sustenance into your stomach, right?” 

The sullen frown on Ben Solo’s face made her wonder if he had ever eaten a meal just for fun. “Don’t tell me you came all the way here just for the food.”

“Well, I can’t deny I am partial to the grilled cheese sandwich at the Cowgirl Creamery and Cheese shop, but mostly I just want to sit and look at the bay.” She tried not to think about how in ten days she would have to leave this city, or how this might be the last time she could sit and watch the boats sail under the Bay Bridge. 

He shot her a look that unmistakably said:  _ you can’t be serious.  _

It was her turn to shrug. “It clears my head,” she explained. The ocean always calmed her when nothing else did. 

His head bobbed as he digested her words, and for a moment, she thought he was satisfied with her answer. Silence was about to descend again, but then he suddenly asked, “Wait, why were  _ you  _ at AT&T?” 

“I...” She could lie, but then again, it occurred to her that coming up with a lie would be more effort than it was worth. There was no harm in telling the truth when she would in all likelihood never see Ben Solo again. In fact, it might even be a bit therapeutic. 

“I was put on a leave of absence because the  _ government  _ —” she might have emphasized that last word out of bitterness, “—decided to deny my work visa extension. Anyway, long story short, I’ve been using my work phone for wi-fi at home since I’m ‘cheap'. But now they’re taking my phone away, so I need to get on a temporary phone plan while I figure this mess out.” 

“Your visa was denied,” he repeated slowly. She could almost see the gears turning in his head as he looked, not quite at her, but some place beyond. He seemed surprised, and although she supposed anyone would be when an almost-stranger dropped the news of their personal visa issue out of the blue, there was something else too—not pity—but something she couldn’t place. 

“Yup, denied,” she confirmed with a pained smile. She tried to sound casual, but her voice came out strained. 

“And you work at Resistance Labs,” he mused seemingly out of the blue.

“Eh, yes?” 

“I’m sorry.”

“Don’t be. Resistance Labs is a great company and they are—”

“I meant your visa. I’m sorry to hear about your visa.” 

She wondered how many times she would hear ‘I’m sorry’ by the end of the day. Kaydel said it, Poe said it, and now Ben Solo said it too. Everyone was  _ sorry  _ about her visa. She forced herself to smile. “It’s just the way things are.”

She was thankful to hear the barista call her name. Ignoring his gaze, she walked toward the stand and grabbed their coffees. She didn’t look him in his eyes as she handed him his cup. 

“Resistance Labs is helping you, right?”

He sounded like he cared, which she knew was impossible, not just because he was a known asshole who didn’t care about anyone, but because he hardly knew her. She took a sip of her latte and quickly determined it was too bitter. She felt his eyes follow her as she turned back to the stall for sugar. “They are refiling for me.”

“They’ll smooth things out before you know it.”

_ Wait, was he trying to comfort her?  _ She replayed what he just said in her head and almost burst into incredulous laughter. The situation was decidedly absurd: Here she was fresh on a leave of absence not of her choosing, buying an apology coffee for the closest she had to a real-life-sworn-enemy, telling him about her woes and troubles… and he was actually trying to console her. What was next? Snow in San Francisco?

She shook her head. “We’ll see.” 

“They will.”

_ But they won’t _ . At least not soon enough, and definitely not before she had to...  _ Shit _ .

She felt like crying again, which was entirely stupid and unhelpful. This wasn’t the time or place to cry and—she pulled out her phone before she fully realized what she was doing—she had to be alone. 

“I better get going,” she told him, making a point to act as if she was checking the time before turning toward him. “I still need to get lunch, drop back into AT&T for the plan, and go back to the office to hand off everything.”

He blinked, undoubtedly taken aback by the abruptness of her exit.

Rey didn’t care.

“Anyway, glad we could clear the air,” she said before he had a chance to reply. She flashed him a hollow smile, then she was moving, almost running away, toward the food stands, and into the mid-afternoon crowd.

* * *

There were sixteen DMs of increasing urgency from Paige when she finally got back in front of her computer. Rey considered ignoring them just to see how many more messages Paige would send her before she stormed her desk, but her extended lunch had smoothed out her mood enough that she decided to put Paige out of her misery.

> **Rey Unkar 2:13pm:**
> 
> Hello. Sorry, just saw your messages. I’m afraid I won’t be able to help you with the bug today
> 
> My H1-B got denied and I was told I have to stop working

She only had time to read her message over once before Paige’s panicked reply popped up and made her snort out loud.

> **Paige Tico 2:14pm:**
> 
> WHAT?
> 
> WHAT?
> 
> Please tell me you’re joking.
> 
> **Rey Unkar 2:14pm:**
> 
> Wish I was. lol

Rey watched as “Paige Tico is typing...” appeared at the bottom of the screen, disappeared, reappeared, then disappeared again. The reply took so long, Rey began reviewing her to-do list while she waited.

> **Paige Tico 2:17pm:**
> 
> I can’t believe this! Did they tell you why?
> 
> **Rey Unkar 2:17pm:**
> 
> Nope. That’s against company policy.
> 
> **Paige Tico 2:18pm:**
> 
> Oh man, I still can’t believe this. When are they going to fix this?
> 
> Do you need to leave the country?
> 
> **Rey Unkar 2:18pm:**
> 
> The lawyers will get back to me tomorrow about the timing.
> 
> But, yeah, I’ll probably have to leave. *sigh*
> 
> **Paige Tico 2:18pm:**
> 
> Damn that sucks! 
> 
> Let me know if there’s anything I can do to help! I’m so sorry!

There was that  _ line  _ again. 

In truth, Rey still couldn’t figure out how she was supposed to respond. None of the speakers caused her visa issue, and none of them could fix the problem for her. More and more, it was apparent to her that there was perhaps no rhyme or reason to why her life had suddenly flipped upside down. It was pure bad luck and there was nothing she could do about it, just like when her parents...

She closed her eyes and took a deep breath.

> **Rey Unkar 2:19pm:**
> 
> Yeah me too. Nothing you can help with right now but thanks for offering.

She was about to tell Paige about the fact Cova will be taking over for her when she received another DM.

> **Temmin Wexley 2:20pm:**
> 
> Rey, I just heard about your situation.
> 
> My brother-in-law’s wife ran into the same issue just the other month. 

_ What? _

But then Tallie, who she only worked with about twice a month pinged her, followed by another message from Brex, who she interacted once at a war room, and suddenly, Jess and Cova stood up and looked right at her with that apologetic, concerned expression, and she realized with a grimace: 

Her secret was out. 

* * *

Between knowledge transferring, repeating her story too many times to too many people, and returning everything to IT, the rest of the work day passed by in a flash. She was so caught up with getting through her to-do list, she was completely unprepared when she found a grumpy Finn and an uneasy Rose waiting for her by her desk at the end of the day. Which was a little paradoxical, because she had been thinking on and off about how to break the news to them the whole day. 

She tried her best to ignore Finn’s stare as she walked past him. He was rarely in a bad mood, but whenever he was, he was intimidating. She glanced at the clock on Cova’s desk, and winced when she saw it was already 5:55pm. 

“Sorry, I lost track of time.”

No answer from Finn except for a twitch in his left eye but at least Rose gave her a nod. 

Silence stretched as she methodically pulled out her personal items from her drawers. “I need to clean out my desk before I go, this may take a little while.”

Finn glowered. Beside him, Rose shuffled in discomfort. 

Rey huffed. If tension could start fires, the whole floor would be engulfed by now. “Look, I can meet you at the restaurant in ten minutes if you’re hangry now.”

“I’m not hangry,” Finn snapped. 

Words were an improvement to the silent treatment, she supposed. “Are you sure?”

“We can wait,” Rose assured quickly, flashing Rey a rueful smile. “Right, Finn?”

She elbowed Finn when he didn’t answer. 

“Right,” Finn grumbled reluctantly. 

Rey gave Finn one last skeptical look and turned back to the pile of books, pens, and random collection of Resistance Labs swag on her desk. She had amassed a surprising amount of personal items in the last three years. She wondered if everything would fit in her backpack. “How was your day?”

“Can you just focus on packing?”

She frowned at Finn’s short answer. “I thought you weren’t in a rush?”

“I’m not.”

She bit her lip to stop herself from arguing. Half the office had left for the day, but the other half was still hard at work and the last thing she wanted to do was to make a scene. She refocused on the task at hand. The books took up too much space in her backpack for her to keep her whole swag collection, so in the end, she only brought her favorite pens, a leather bound notebook, a nice branded Yeti cup, and a cute stuffed Resistance Labs mascot with her. She left the rest of the swag on her desk with a “Free” sticky note. 

Rey deliberately trailed behind with Rose when Finn turned on his heel and stomped toward the elevators. “I guess you both found out...”

Rose sighed wearily. “Yeah. I overheard a few people from the core software team and Finn heard from Snap when he got pulled into a war room.” 

_ Oh.  _ Rey winced. Snap, of all people. 

She hurried up when she saw Finn holding the elevator door. “For what it's worth,” she told him when she was inside, “I never told Snap personally.”

Finn gave the lobby button an unnecessarily violent jab. “I thought we were best friends!”

“Of course we—”

Finn actually looked scandalized. “A best friend wouldn’t let her BFF find out about her important life event secondhand!” 

“I organized this dinner so I could tell you in person,” she explained, a trifle testily.

“After half the office already found out.”

“I didn’t expect Paige to be such a tattletale.” 

Finn threw his hands up in frustration. “You told her  _ and  _ Poe before you told me.” 

_ And Ben Solo _ , her mind reminded her rather unhelpfully, but she certainly wasn’t going to open that can of worms. She closed her eyes and took a deep inhale. “I didn’t tell Poe, he found out because HR sent him a notification because he’s my direct manager, and Paige wanted to drag me into a war room, I didn’t—” 

She was going to say ‘didn’t have a choice’ but she caught herself because that was a lie. She did have a choice. She had multiple opportunities to tell Finn. Poe even told her multiple times to tell Finn, but she  _ chose  _ not to. She didn’t tell him because telling Finn would make everything real and personal and because she was… scared. 

“I’m—” The sound of the floor cleaner interrupted her as the elevator door opened on the ground floor. She used the opportunity to gather her thoughts and only continued when they stepped out onto the street. She stopped walking and caught Finn’s eyes. “Look, Finn, I should have told you earlier but I was being a coward.”

His jaws were still tight, but the crease at the bridge of his nose slowly relaxed.

“And I’m sorry,” she added sincerely, “Forgive me?” 

The expression on Finn's face softened. "I'm sorry too," he said and pulled her into a half hug. Their fight was officially over.

Rey let out a sigh of relief.

* * *

She was infinitely thankful for Rose’s insistence in sitting in the lounge level instead of upstairs. For one, it was a lot easier to get the server’s attention to refill their beers, for another, it was a lot less awkward to watch Finn pace when they were not seated at the dining tables. 

“You’re going to wear the floor out,” she told him as she stared at the last piece of curry roti on the shared plate. Finn had only eaten half of his portion and the remainder had been taunting her for the last fifteen minutes. 

“I can’t wear out concrete,” he argued without slowing his stride. He always paced when he thought, and he had been thinking ever since Rey gave him a detailed summary of meeting with the lawyer and HR. “Are you sure there’s nothing Poe can do to fix this? It’s not like you are some cheap laborer we brought in to game the system, you have specialized skills that people can’t replace.” 

Rose tore her eyes from her phone. She had been googling about H1-B extension denial ever since Rey finished telling her story. “It may not be about Rey’s specialized knowledge but more about proving that she holds a specialty occupation. That’s something HR should provide to the attorney.”

“I don’t even know if it’s really about evidence,” Rey said before sighing and taking a swig of her beer. “Everything is adjudicated. For all I know the adjudicator just didn’t like my last name.” 

Rey caught their eyes and dared them to challenge her. They didn’t. Unkar wasn’t a nice, normal last name and they both knew it. It was another thing she could add to the long list of things she resented Plutt for. 

“Well, at least now with premium processing open again, the refiling won’t take quite as long,” Rose said, trying to look on the bright side. 

“Yes, but they can just request for a RFE or deny her again,” Finn said, finishing his pint while still pacing, “and there’s also the fact that even in the best case scenario—”

“Can I have the last roti?” Rey interrupted, partly because she couldn’t stand seeing good food go to waste but mostly because she didn’t want to think about this mess anymore. She will have to, of course, but that was Tomorrow Rey’s problem. 

Today Rey was just going to enjoy that last piece of roti. 

* * *

The screen of her old Nexus 4 flashed into life with four bars of signal. 

Rey uncapped her pen and struck out “confirm her old phone still works” on her crumpled to-do list print out. She felt a perverse sense of accomplishment as she counted the crossed out items on her list: forty-two out of sixty-three. In theory, she had completed almost two-thirds of her list in one day, not bad, if she said so herself. She didn’t let herself dwell on the fact that the remaining items dealt with the complications of leaving a home behind and would in all likelihood take much longer to complete, that was Tomorrow Rey’s problem. 

For now, she let herself celebrate the small victory by mindlessly surfing the web, looking at the latest cute animal videos on r/aww on Reddit, reading up on a few articles on Hacker News, and eventually, catching up on Discord, which she had completely neglected since the craziness of the afternoon began. 

Three DMs from kyloren were waiting for her when she logged in.

> \---New Message---
> 
> **kyloren Today at 3:29pm**
> 
> I’m sorry again about what’s happening. It’s crap.
> 
> Where were you from again? Do you at least have someone who can help you over there?
> 
> Re: conundrum - what is sending tickets back to shit testers who had created the ticket with insufficient logs?

She snorted halfheartedly at the last message, but her attention was caught by the questions. She had concluded some time back that kyloren’s ability to ask the important questions was what distinguished him from other good programmers. That trait was the reason why she loved walking through new ideas with him but now… Now, his questions just kind of made her want to hug herself and cry. 

The thing was, the truth she had been avoiding the whole day could very well be the answer to his question.

> **coderray Today at 9:32pm**
> 
> I was born in U.K.
> 
> But I have no home to return to or anyone to turn to there
> 
> Everything and everyone I care about is here

She only realized she was actually crying when a perfectly round droplet landed on her phone. 

Behind the fog of her tears she saw “kyloren is typing…” at the bottom of the chat and her breath hitched. Of all the times he had to be online—

> \---New Message---
> 
> **kyloren Today at 9:33pm**
> 
> If you need to rant, I am all ears. 

He was being nice—it was an innocent offer—but she felt it like a punch to the gut. Her fight or flight instinct kicked in, but while she usually defaulted to fight, in this one instance every essence of her being begged her to flee. 

> **coderray Today at 9:33pm**
> 
> Thanks. But not right now
> 
> gtg

She wiped at her eyes, but the tears kept on coming long after she tossed her phone on the bed. For the first time in years, longer than she could accurately recall, Rey sobbed herself to restless sleep.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> \----------------jargons_and_technical_and_SF_stuff.txt----------------
> 
> Coffee Tasting Notes: Very pretentious means of describing coffee that fancy hipster coffee places are partial to. You can see all the possible flavors in Specialty Coffee Association of America’s tasting wheel. https://www.scaa.org/?d=scaa-flavor-wheel&page=resources
> 
> Worka Chelbessa: A real single origin Ethiopian coffee that you can pick up from Sightglass. https://sightglasscoffee.com/products/worka-chelbessa-yirgacheffe
> 
> Boysenberry: A cross between raspberry and blackberry. It tastes the way you expects: a cross between a raspberry and a blackberry. https://www.foodandwine.com/blogs/2014/06/10/everything-you-need-to-know-about-boysenberries
> 
> Soylent: Soylent is a liquid meal substitute very much for dudes and ladies who believe efficiency is everything and meals aren't for fun. The company markets the drink as a meal in a bottle (though like Rey said, Canada has actually banned the current iteration of Soylent because it didn’t meet their meal substitute requirement). I think Chris Ziegler of The Verge, who experimented with subsisting only on Soylent for almost a month, summarize it best: although he liked and "never really tired of the flavor", he still concluded that "Soylent isn't living, it's merely surviving". Basically, it’s the most Kylo Ren drink in existence. https://soylent.com/
> 
> Cowgirl Creamery Cheese Shop: A famous cheese shop in the Ferry Building. Like Rey said, they make really nice grilled cheese sandwiches. https://www.cowgirlcreamery.com/san-francisco-ferry-building-cheese-shop
> 
> Knowledge transfer: Common term used to describe the sharing of technical knowledge between a subject matter expert to someone else. 
> 
> Swag: All types of branded free stuff that tech companies like to hand out to their employees to boost morale and boost name recognition. You would be surprised how much programmers are willing to do for a cool swag. https://www.sfchronicle.com/business/article/It-s-free-It-s-fun-Why-Silicon-Valley-loves-14109925.php?psid=hnCZ3
> 
> Yeti mug: A premium cup that keeps your drink hot or cold for an extended period of time. They are well made and durable and a prized swag. https://www.yeti.com/en_US/drinkware
> 
> RFE: Stands for Request for Evidence. It is a request issued by the United States Citizenship and Immigration Services to petitioners for residency, citizenship, family visas, and employment visas. I got one of those. It sucked. https://www.boundless.com/immigration-resources/whos-afraid-rfe/
> 
> Hacker News: A popular news page for developers run by ycombinator (https://news.ycombinator.com/)
> 
> \--------------------  
> If you have an account, come say hi on Twitter: https://twitter.com/arcnlumi


	5. Day 3 (A Bit of Bad Coping Mechanism)

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Happy new TROS material everyone. I’ve been so busy speculating and fangirling that I didn’t finish this chapter until now. Hopefully, the longer chapter will make up for this. 
> 
> PS. I have a good news I would like to share with you all: I have gotten an electronic approval notice for my visa extension!!! Still can’t work yet because we need the physical copy, but there’s light at the end of the tunnel! 
> 
> PPS. Thank you to @lovingreylo (Peyton) and @Erulisse17 for betaing

It was just past 4:00am, too early to be awake, but as the third episode of  _ A Bit of Fry and Laurie _ began streaming on her television. Rey could only resign herself to the fact that, for once, her sleeping superpower had failed her. She was exhausted, but hadn’t been able to stop her mind racing ever since she started awake an hour ago. 

In her dream, she was fourteen years old again, in the scrapyard she used to frequent in Birmingham, climbing over carcasses of old cars, searching for a front spindle assembly that would fit a Ford Bronco. She hunted for ages, but every SUV and truck she found was either a Toyota, Renault, or Volkswagen. None of them had a front spindle assembly that would fit. 

Cold rain poured down, soaking her pants and socks and turning her fingers numb and raw. She was tired, so tired, but she couldn’t stop the hunt. Plutt wouldn’t let her eat anything until she found the part he wanted, and she was absolutely starving. She had just gotten to the top of another stack of cars when she took one wrong step and fell. 

She woke up on the floor next to her bed, more tired than she was when she fell asleep. 

Plutt. Birmingham. She hadn’t dreamed of either for years, not since she started considering the Bay Area a permanent home. Now with her future uncertain, the nightmares were back. 

If she was still living a French door away from Finn, in that horrible old Mission apartment they shared with three other roommates when she was fresh out of college, she would have sought him out. His door was always open to her whenever she needed a listening ear, and hers to him. But that time has passed. While they still lived within walking distance from each other and were still best friends, there were also boundaries now. 4:00am was simply too early for her to call him, especially after he started living with Rose. 

She wasn’t jealous of them, but sometimes, she was a little lonely.

The sound of her phone buzzing on her side table made her jump.  _ Right _ . She had switched back to her old phone, and had forgotten to set it to silent for the night. She rolled over to get it, expecting to see an email notification, but found a DM notification from Discord instead. 

Kyloren, apparently, really never sleeps.

Her ancient phone took its time to open the Discord app, but when it did, Rey couldn’t help but be pleasantly surprised at the number of new messages. 

> \---New Message---
> 
> **kyloren Today at 4:09am**
> 
> Some evil fucker from a company that FO took over two months ago removed all the spaces between lines and then manually added in hundreds of line number based macros before the source code hand off.
> 
> One of my teams is dealing with shit like this that’s impossible to debug: 
> 
> #define fuckyou(expr) (__LINE__ % 7 ? expr : !expr)
> 
> (yes, _fuckyou_ , is the actual macro name)
> 
> I don’t know who I want to kill more: the troll responsible for this, the C++ Standard Committee for allowing macros, or myself for the poor life choices that put me in charge of the team responsible for porting this crap into the main code base in three weeks. 

Rey had to reread his messages a few times before she fully understood the depths of his despair. Line number based macros meant each time the code was reformatted or new code was added, the behavior of the code would change because the line numbers would shift. The macros meant kyloren couldn’t reformat the code with line spacing, which made the code extremely difficult to read. It was breathtakingly wicked. Whoever did this spent days thinking and implementing the obfuscation out of pure spite. Not that she blamed him or her, but that was a level of pettiness that even she didn’t reach when Han was being sued. 

> **coderray Today at 4:15am**
> 
> Wow, that person really hates the First Order
> 
> **kyloren Today at 4:15am**
> 
> Shit, did I wake you up with my rant?

_ That _ , at least, was an easy question to answer. 

> **coderray Today at 4:15am**
> 
> Nope. Was already awake. 
> 
> Forgot to turn off notifications after I swapped phones last night but I woke up an hour ago and couldn’t fall back to sleep
> 
> Have you been up the whole night decoding?
> 
> **kyloren Today at 4:17am**
> 
> No. Went to bed early when I got frustrated. Had an inspired idea around 3:00am, so I've been awake working on a partial fix since.  
> 

Rey had to admit, she was a little jealous of his seeming miracle.   


> **coderray Today at 4:19am**
> 
> Don’t you love it when your brain solves your problems while you sleep?
> 
> Ha. Wish my problem magically solved itself while I sleep, but nope. My sleeping brain just added to my anxiety with a shitty dream  😭😭😭😭
> 
> **kyloren Today at 4:20am**
> 
> Do you want to talk about it?

_ Did she? _ The fact she was considering the question was so strange. In the two years since they began corresponding with each other, she hadn’t volunteered any personal information beyond the company she worked at, and indirectly, since Resistance Labs only had one office, that she lived in the Bay Area. She had always valued her privacy too much to divulge more, and he never asked. Yet in the last three days, she had told him about her visa issue, where she was originally from, and… 

It was so bizarre, but she actually kind of wanted to tell him about her nightmare. 

> **coderray Today at 4:21am**
> 
> The man who adopted me owned a garage, so I spent a lot of time when I was younger at scrap yards salvaging for spare parts.
> 
> I was dreaming about that and it just made me think about what’s next, you know. 
> 
> **kyloren Today at 4:22am**
> 
> You didn’t call him your father. 

Rey pulled in a deep breath at his keen observation. She really shouldn’t be so surprised given the attention to detail he demonstrated through all the programming anecdotes he shared, but she was. She was still debating her response when he sent her another message.

> **kyloren Today at 4:23am**
> 
> Sorry. I have a crap habit of pointing out subtext. It pisses everyone off.
> 
> Wasn’t trying to pry. You don’t need to answer that.

She hadn’t really talked to anyone about Plutt besides Finn. Maybe it was the online anonymity, maybe she was just tired, but whatever it was, Rey found that once the first word trickled out, the rest flowed effortlessly. 

> **coderray Today at 4:23am**
> 
> No, it’s just that a person who makes you work for everything isn’t a father
> 
> If it wasn't because I was useful to him at his garage, he probably wouldn't have bothered to feed me, nevermind house me
> 
> I haven’t talked to him since I left U.K. 
> 
> Sorry for the sob story
> 
> **kyloren Today at 4:25am**
> 
> If it makes you feel better, my parents and I aren’t on speaking terms either.
> 
> But in my case, I’ve been told it’s because I’m a shit son.

It was difficult to tell if he was being sarcastic or self-deprecating. If the former, Rey couldn’t think of a reason why anyone wouldn’t want to talk to their parents, aside from them being abusive or absent, but nothing kyloren ever said pointed to either. If the latter, even if he worked in one of the least moral tech companies in the world, his parents should at least take comfort in the fact that he was a self-sufficient working member of society. 

Either way, Rey didn’t understand. 

> **coderray Today at 4:25am**
> 
> I’m sure your parents don’t actually think that.

“kyloren is typing...” remained on the screen for a full three minutes before disappearing without warning. For a long moment, Rey wondered if she had stepped on a conversation ending landmine, but then kyloren started typing again and a new message appeared. 

> **kyloren Today at 4:29am**
> 
> So have you decided on where exactly you’ll go next?

Another critical question, but unlike the other times, when he asked questions purely for clarification or curiosity, this time he was deflecting. In all honesty, it made her more curious, but their relationship had always been built on respecting each other’s boundaries, and she wasn’t going to change that now. 

> **coderray Today at 4:30am**
> 
> No. The only thing I know is that I don’t want to go back to Birmingham
> 
> I guess everything else depends on what the lawyer says at 9:00am
> 
> I’ll find out how long everything will take and what I’m allowed to do while I’m on leave then

A yawn overtook her, and realizing that her earlier agitation had eased to a tolerable level, she decided it was time to give sleep another shot. After telling him so, they promptly exchanged good byes, and with that, she plugged her phone back into the charger and closed her eyes.

* * *

She started awake by the grating buzz of her door bell. 

She forced her left eye open and squinted at her phone. She had three missed calls and ten text messages from Finn. Her phone rang again just as her sleep laden brain began to connect the doorbell to the alerts on her phones. 

“Hello?” she answered without bothering to stifle her yawn. 

“Good morning, Peanut!” said an irritatingly cheerful and awake Finn on the other end of the call. 

“Is that you at the door at this ungodly hour?” Rey grumbled, rubbing the sleep from her eyes.

“Sure is, but it’s not an ungodly hour. It’s past 8:00am on a weekday.”

Rey snorted. “Right, but that doesn’t apply to me anymore. I’m on leave.” 

“You have a meeting the the lawyer at 9:00am.”

“Which means I don’t have to wake up until 8:55am,” she deadpanned sourly. “Finn, unless you can give me a very good reason, I’m hanging up and going back to sleep.”

“I brought you a breakfast sandwich from Bacon Bacon,” Finn replied in a sing-song voice, knowing perfectly well  _ that  _ would catch her attention.

The warm comfort of her blanket paled in comparison to the temptation of a good sesame bun sandwich with fried eggs, bacon, cheese, and bacon jam. Rey was at the door within fifteen seconds. “Give me.”

She ignored Finn’s silent laughter as she grabbed the Bacon Bacon paper bag out of his outstretched hand. She pulled the sandwich out of the bag like a zombie going for brains and almost moaned out loud when she took a bite of the sandwich. It was so good. 

“Glad you still have an appetite,” Finn commented airily. He started her electric kettle and plopped an Earl Grey tea bag into a mug along with a teaspoon of sugar, just the way she liked it. “I was worried when you didn’t reply my messages.” 

“I don’t think it’s scientifically possible for me to lose my appetite,” she said and licked bacon jam off her fingers. “What special occasion do I owe breakfast to?”

Finn folded his arms and shrugged. “Nothing special. I just wanted to make sure my BFF is holding up okay.”

Rey shot Finn a look of wonder, her lips pressed shut as they tilted upwards into a grin. Sometimes she pondered how much more miserable her life would be if she didn’t answer the same apartment ad as Finn four years ago. They had been best friends for four years, but in eight days...

“What?”

“Nothing. It’s just that…” she trailed off when a fear she didn’t have time to fully unpack caught her voice. She swallowed the lump in her throat with another bite of her sandwich. “You’re just a cinnamon roll and I don’t deserve you.” 

Finn glanced at her as he poured water into the mug. “Hey, we’ve been through this before—”

“You don’t have to waste time checking up on me,” she interrupted him, standing up to grab milk from the fridge just so she wouldn’t have to look him in the eye. “There’s no reason to worry. I’ve survived much worse. I’ll be okay.” 

Finn frowned, put down the kettle, and turned to her. “You’re doing that thing you used to do when we first met.”. 

“What thing?” asked Rey a little defensively, even though she had a good idea exactly what he was alluding to. 

“The thing where you build walls around yourself and push me away,” Finn said flatly, calling her out on her bullshit. “But this isn’t like before. You have friends now. We can help you.” 

Rey closed her eyes and nodded. “I know.” 

He pulled her into a hug. “I need to head to work, but come over for dinner with the whole gang at my place tonight, and we will figure out what to do together,” he promised. 

“Okay,” she said, trying to squash the pessimistic voice that told her nothing could be done.

Finn hugged her tighter and while she leaned into his shoulder, Rey considered how remarkable it was that something which used to make her freeze just a few years ago was now a source of comfort. 

* * *

When Rey was little, she used to believe that for every good thing that happened to her, a bad thing of equal gravity would inevitably happen in turn. This belief might have stemmed from early exposure to the yin-yang symbol on the Chinese take-out her parents occasionally bought and, later, a total misreading of Newton’s third law of physics. 

Sometimes, when things were going too well (if she received a particularly nice praise from a teacher, or salvaged something so good as to keep Plutt in a generous mood for days), she would purposefully walk into something or drop her food on the ground just to balance things out. It was all superstitious nonsense, and yet, it served her well. It kept her hopeful when her life was at its worst and tapered her expectations when the going was good.

She had long since abandoned this silly notion, but her meeting with the lawyer was making her wonder if her younger self held some unknown wisdom. It would have at least saved her from a bit of this disappointment. 

“You can’t finish the paperwork any faster?” she asked when Lema told her it would take the law firm at least fifteen work days to submit the forms for reapplication. 

“We need the time to bolster your case and review the application before we send it in to maximize the chance of approval.”

Rey hated how clinical, and guarded, and logical Lema sounded on the phone. She didn’t know how to counter that, so she moved on. “And after that, with premium processing, it will take fifteen days for the government to approve the application.”

“We cannot guarantee on an approval. USCIS will either approve, deny, or request for additional evidence within five to fifteen days of their receipt notice.”

“What will happen if we get a negative answer again?” 

“We will assess the situation for the best course of action when we get there.”

Rey felt so agitated she shot up to her feet just because she had to move, do something. “But you’re at least confident I’ll have a good chance of getting an approval, right?” 

“We’ll do everything in our power to increase the chance of approval, but—” 

“Right, you can’t guarantee anything,” she interrupted, her voice rising despite her best effort to keep her tone professional. “And while I wait,  _ potentially indefinitely _ , can I at least get a temp job to cover my rent?”

“You’ll have to check with HR representative on that front.”

“Do you actually  _ know  _ anything?” she snapped. She justified her rudeness by the fact she was the one who had to suffer the consequences of this bureaucratic nightmare.

Silence. 

“Rey, I understand you’re upset but we’re all doing our best for your case,” Kaydel interjected diplomatically a long moment later. “I’m asking Riva now about the outside employment policy.”

Rey found her reasonableness so offensive, she muted her phone so she could let out a frustrated shriek in peace. 

“Do you have any other questions for Lema in the meantime?” Kaydel asked in the same even, perfectly professional voice.

Rey made herself take a deep breath before she took herself off mute. “Not right now,” she muttered with a loud, passive aggressive sigh meant just for them. 

“Alright, Riva just sent me the outside employment policy. According to this, while you are on leave you are still considered to be employed by Resistance Labs. Outside employment is not permitted for all Resistance Labs employees. This prohibition includes any computer software and hardware related work, whether for pay or pro bono, to clients or nonclients. Failure to comply will terminate the Resistance Labs’ support for any future visa sponsorship.”

Rey muted her phone again, this time for a long string of colorful expletives.

* * *

Fundamentally speaking, programming is about giving a machine precise, step by step instructions that it can understand to perform a specific task. One of the most commonly used features in programming is variations of conditional statements, which tells the machine that if x happens, do y, else, do z. When nested, a good conditional statement would perform a process of elimination on plausible cases and select the most appropriate action. To construct a good conditional statement, programmers must first know the problem they are trying to solve, any preferences and constraints, and finally, the plausible cases. 

Rey found herself falling back to conditional statements as she sat in a daze after her call with Lema. She had known her problem (her work visa expired and now she must decide on a course of action) and her preferences (return to work at Resistance Labs) since the beginning, but it was only now that she knew all her constraints and plausible cases. She distractedly wrote down the possible cases, trying to organize her thoughts as well as she could while billions of disjointed possibilities whizzed through her head:

_ Plausible cases:  _

  * __Visa gets approved after 6 weeks__


  * _Receives RFE after 6 weeks, will take at least a month to reply and get a response, who knows if she’d get an approval or denial afterwards_


  * _Visa gets denied a second time after 6 weeks, not sure if Resistance Labs would pursue a third application, if yes, then it would be another 6 weeks before they can make another decision_



Two out of three of her options were bad outcomes. If she was a betting woman, she certainly wouldn’t gamble on those odds. 

She held her head in one of her hands and absentmindedly played with her phone on the other. There was a text from Finn asking her for updates, but he would take her conclusion hard, perhaps distracting him so much he wouldn’t be able to be productive at work, so she kept her answer purposefully vague: 

> **Rey at 10:08am**
> 
> 😩 It’s about what I expected
> 
> Will tell you more when I come over for dinner tonight

But she still wanted to be honest with someone, so she turned to her faceless internet friend, distant enough to not be devastated by her life’s drama. 

> \---New Message---
> 
> **coderray Today at 10:09am**
> 
> Was told it would take at least six weeks with no guarantee of exactly how long it would take
> 
> Was also told while I wait for my visa I cannot work as a programmer if I want them to sponsor my visa
> 
> Fuck. My. Life.

* * *

Rey had never wished more than this moment that she listened to her loan counselor for once, and had actually saved more of her disposable income toward contingency funds instead of spending nearly all of it paying back her student loan. The trouble Plutt had gotten into with his many creditors left such a strong impression on her that when she finally got a steady full time job, she put repaying debt above everything else. It also didn’t help that as an international student, the only loan available to her was private loans with higher than average interest rate, that Stanford was a very expensive college in a very expensive area, and that the scholarships she earned only covered half of her tuition and living cost. 

In an effort to pay off her whooping $150,000 student debt within five years, Rey sent forty percent of her annual post-tax income to her lender. 

What this all boiled down to was that although she earned a six digit income straight out of college, Rey barely had two months of contingency funds in her bank account.

Money, Rey was beginning to realize three hours into researching expenses related to suddenly moving out of a country, was the crux of her problem. This was why she snorted out loud when she finally took a breather and read the following message: 

> \---New Message---
> 
> **kyloren Today at 12:36pm**
> 
> You do have enough contingency to cover you for a few months, right?

_ Him and his nagging logic.  _ She didn’t know if she wanted to laugh or cry.

> **coderray Today at 2:27pm**
> 
> I wish, but you know, student loans happened
> 
> To make things worse, suddenly moving costs money
> 
> Like do you know it costs like $200 a month just to get a small storage unit in the Bay Area? It’s ridiculous

Which was precisely why she began taking photos of her furniture and posting them on Craigslist. They were all secondhand anyway, and at least selling them might help her recuperate enough money for a plane ticket to London. 

* * *

Something that smelled ridiculously good was wafting from the kitchen when she arrived at Finn and Rose’s place. Rey was both excited and unsurprised. Rose had always been an amazing cook and Finn’s cooking skills had improved threefold since he started dating her. Finn greeted her an awkward shoulder pat with his elbow since his hands had onion all over them. 

“What’s in the oven tonight?” Rey asked as she took off her shoes. 

“Roast chicken with a lemon rosemary gravy, garlic green beans, and roast potatoes,” Rose called out from the kitchen.

“Need me to help with anything?” Rey asked. 

“Nah, just hang tight with Poe, Rose and I are nearly done,” Finn replied, as they made their way to the kitchen. 

Rose turned around and waved a spatula at her before turning quickly back around to the sizzling stove. At the granite island, Poe stood up from his stool and raised his glass of wine at her. “Want some?”

She nodded eagerly. She had needed a glass, maybe even a bottle or two, since the day began. 

“How are you holding up?” he asked, when she settled in the stool next to him. 

“Surviving,” she told him and took a long drink. “Had a second meeting with the lawyer, and spent the rest of the day planning.” 

“What did the lawyer said anyway?” Finn asked as he chopped rosemary on the counter. 

“That it will take six week minimum to sort out everything and that during that time I can’t do any computer related work for any company,” Rey said and took another sip.

Finn looked alarmingly at her. “Six weeks minimum? As in they don’t know how long it would actually take?” 

Rey gave a helpless shrug. “Yeah, something like that.”

“Shit.”

“Yeah,” she agreed with Poe and finished her glass of wine. She was probably drinking a little too fast, but she was sure no one would blame her. “I’m not entirely sure how to make my savings stretch if it takes longer.”

Poe watched her thoughtfully. “I can lend you some money if you are short."  


It was a tempting offer. She knew Poe had savings, but he also wanted to start a family one of these days, and she hated the idea of borrowing money unless she absolutely had no other choice. “No, I’ll figure something out. I’m sure I can go wait at restaurants like I used to in college or go back to salvaging for—” 

“No, you can’t go back to salvaging. You hated it,” Finn pointed out.

Rey thought back to her nightmare from the night before. She remembered the apprehension and anguish it brought back and couldn’t argue with him on that point. Smiling ruefully, she shrugged. “I hate going back to U.K. too, but here I am.”

Finn threw his knife onto the counter, loudly. “You can’t just give up this easily.” 

It wasn’t a matter of giving up. It was a matter of being realistic. Surely, he could understand that. “Finn...”

“You can’t! You belong here.” 

Rey reached for the bottle of wine so she could top up her glass. “Are you suggesting I stay here illegally and risk my chance of ever getting a green card?”

Finn stode over to the island to fill his own glass too. “What if one of us just marries you?”

Rey sipped her wine and raised an eyebrow. “You three all have significant others. I love you all but I’m not going to be a part of a weird threesome with any of you.”

“It’s just until your H1-B gets renewed, right?”

Rey knew what Finn was earnest in his offer, but she also knew it wouldn’t work. Maybe before he and Rose were an item she might consider that as an option, but that boat had long sailed. They belonged together now, and Rey wasn’t going to come between that. 

“But what if they don’t renew it? Then what? Everything takes longer with the current backlog. It’s not a matter of months, it’s a matter of years.” She shook her head resolutely. “No. I’d rather take my chances than do that.” 

Finn chucked back his wine like water. “There must be another way!”

Poe sighed wearily. “I’ve asked Kaydel, there really isn’t.” 

“Unless...” The trio quieted and listened. Rose was always more of a thinker than a speaker and she almost never speaks unless she really had something to contribute. “Rey has a secret American boyfriend she hasn’t told us about?” 

Finn and Poe turned abruptly to Rey and Rey turned to Rose in utter confusion. 

Rose shrugged. “Well, it’s just that sometimes, I see Rey look at her phone and she has this huge grin on her face.” 

Rey couldn’t believe Poe was nodding along. “Hmm, now that you mention it, I do recall her texting on her phone with  _ that  _ look.” 

Finn looked almost scandalized. “And you didn’t tell me, Peanut?”

She was completely at a loss with what they were talking about. She didn’t have a boyfriend. She didn’t even talk to that many people on her phone. All she talked to was them, people at work, and…  _ Oh _ . 

“Look, he’s just a guy—”

“Ah ha! There  _ is _ a guy!” Poe cried, wiggling his eyebrows.

Rey threw her hands up in the air. “I don’t even know for sure. We’ve never met and we have no plans to. I just assumed he’s a guy because we started talking on the Programming Discord. Sorry to disappoint you, but there’s no secret American boyfriend who can save me from deportation.”

Her friends visibly deflated at the news. 

Rey didn’t know what was sadder: that the idea of having a secret boyfriend was so outside the realm of possibly that she didn’t even blush, or the fact that her social circle was so small that the only person she actually texted with a smile outside of her three real-life friends was that “guy” on Discord. Regardless, Rey found her stomach squeezing uncomfortably at the reminder that if she had a significant other, like Rose or Finn or Poe, her situation might be different, but she didn’t and so she was still stuck in her predicament. It was decidedly depressing.

The four of them took long pulls of their wine gloomily. Thankfully, the timer on the chicken beeped soon after, and good food was always a great distractor. 

* * *

There were very few things Rey remembered about her parents beyond foggy images of their faces, but she did remember how they smelled. It was only when she stepped into a pub for the first time in her life on her eighteenth birthday, curious of the rite of passage her classmates fussed about, that she recognized what the smell was: the stench of alcohol and sweat. It was a sobering realization, one that often prompted her to give an excuse and leave early whenever she went partying in pubs and clubs with friends and coworkers. 

She could count on one hand the number of times she had gotten tipsy in public, and as a result, unlike Poe or Rose or Finn, she never had exciting alcohol induced adventures, or sexy drunk encounters, or even just flirting with a guy so she could get a free drink. Rey had always consoled herself that it wasn’t that she couldn’t, only that she never tried. Yet, as she watched a third newly minted couple leaving the pub hand in hand, she was beginning to wonder if she got it all wrong and something was fundamentally wrong with  _ her.  _

She had been drinking alone at the bar for a good twenty minutes but no one, not even the old guy in the corner, came over to strike up a conversation with her. Were her arms too fat? Was it something about her hair? Was she just uglier than she realized? Were any of those reasons why she couldn’t find someone who would look at her the way Rose looked at Finn, or why she never had a boyfriend even though she worked in a field and lived in a city that was disproportionately filled with eligible bachelors? 

Everything would be so much easier if she just had an American boyfriend like Rose suggested.

She finished the last of her gin and tonic in large gulps and gestured to the bartender for another. 

She looked up at the television screens behind the bar as she waited for her drink. They were showing American football and baseball, two sports she couldn’t stand. She rolled her eyes and scoffed, if there was one thing she always found lacking in America, it was the nation’s taste in sports. There were reasons why the rest of the world played  _ real _ football instead. She pulled out her phone, and seeing a notification on Discord, went straight there without thinking. 

> \---New Message---
> 
> **kyloren Today at 6:25pm**
> 
> Sorry for the late response. Finally got out of back to back meetings. 
> 
> Anyway, I have a secured storage unit in my condo. I barely have anything in it. If you just need a spot to put your stuff. You are welcome to it. 

She wasn’t fully aware of how drunk she was until she started to type. She considered just giving up, but she persevered and muddled through a response.

> **coderray Today at 11:28pm**
> 
> Ewwww back to back meetings usck. 
> 
> And tghat’s a nice offer but probably owln’t need it cause I’m selling everythikng on Craiglist for extra $$$

She giggled at her atrocious spelling. It was ridiculous, but it was also hilarious. She typed on:

> **coderray Today at 11:30pm**
> 
> Anyway how wasg your day?

The bartender returned with her gin and tonic, and she was about to put away her phone when she saw a new message appeared: 

> \---New Message---
> 
> **kyloren Today at 11:32pm**
> 
> Meetings aside, my day was fairly uneventful.
> 
> Yours?

Rey downed a third of her new drink in one swig, slapped the glass heavily onto the bartop, and typed her answer.

> **coderray Today at 11:33pm**
> 
> My day wa sutter crap! That’s why I’m drinkiogn my sorrows away
> 
> Sry for the shit spelling. Can’t be bohtered to fix things
> 
> **kyloren Today at 11:34pm**
> 
> Wow. How many drinks did you have?

Rey tried to count with her fingers. 

> **coderray Today at 11:35pm**
> 
> I think this i smy 3rd gin &tonics?
> 
> I had some wine before though
> 
> **kyloren Today at 11:36pm**
> 
> You should probably switch to water after this one
> 
> **coderray Today at 11:36pm**
> 
> Nahhhh. My sorrows aren’t gonw yet
> 
> You can help me pick the nwet drink though

It took her a few tries to take clear pictures of the menu in low light, but she did eventually managed to send him something that was readable. 

> **coderray Today at 11:38pm**
> 
> **kyloren Today at 11:38pm**
> 
> Water.
> 
> **coderray Today at 11:38pm**
> 
> Gin!
> 
> **kyloren Today at 11:38pm**
> 
> No, water. Trust me, you’ll thank me in the morning. 
> 
> Get one of your friends to get you some.
> 
> **coderray Today at 11:39pm**
> 
> My friends can tget me water
> 
> I’m out aloen. Can’t pickup anyone if theyare with me
> 
> Not leaving until I can aleast get someonew to buy me a drink 
> 
> **kyloren Today at 11:39pm**
> 
> I’ll venmo you $50 for your drinks.
> 
> Go home. 
> 
> **coderray Today at 11:40pm**
> 
> Tyhat’s not the point. Needs to be someone at th bar
> 
> Want to prove nothing is wrong withme and I can actully pickup someone if i want
> 
> **kyloren Today at 11:40pm**
> 
> That’s a horrible idea. You should go sleep this off.
> 
> I’ll call you an Uber. 
> 
> **coderray Today at 11:41pm**
> 
> Loll. Stop being usch a mum. 
> 
> **kyloren Today at 11:41pm**
> 
> I'm just being the voice of reason.  
> 
> 
> Go home, please.
> 
> **coderray Today at 11:42pm**
> 
> Can't do. Need to dothis
> 
> Do you know my social life is so hilariouysly sad, I’m nearly 27 and never had a boyfriend, or even a real fling. Hell, my firends thought u might be my boyfriend just cause i msg u
> 
> Anyway, if you won’t pick m ynext drink I’ll just go wit another gin & tonic

She waited for an answer, but when nothing came for a full minute, she put down her phone and turned back to her drink. The football game had ended, and the television was now showing pre-season basketball recaps. Not a huge improvement, but at least she could stand basketball, so she mindlessly watched the recaps as she sipped her drink. When she emptied her glass almost fifteen minutes later, there were still no new messages from kyloren. Sighing, she realized she would probably never get one. She couldn’t blame him. He never signed up to baby-sit an obnoxious drunk. She would probably have to apologize tomorrow, when she sobered up enough to cringe at her own messages. 

For now, she would just get another drink. 

She was about to wave the bartender over when she heard the empty stool to her right sliding back. There were other empty seats at the bar, so whoever it was obviously  _ chose  _ to sit next to her.  _ Finally, some action. _ She put on the most flirty grin she could muster and spun to her right, only to nearly fall off her seat from shock. 

_"You!"_

Ben Solo's lips twitched upwards, entirely too unruffled. “Yup, me,” he said, as he pulled off his dark grey leather jacket and folded himself casually onto the bar stool, "Hello, Rey." 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> \----------------jargons_and_technical_and_SF_stuff.txt----------------
> 
> Code Obfuscation: In software development, obfuscation is the deliberate act of creating source or machine code that is difficult for humans to understand. Sometimes companies do that to prevent tampering and reverse engineering, but in this case it was done out of spite. First Order completed a hostile takeover of the company whose source code Ben Solo is working on. Everyone in that company wanted First Order developers to suffer as much as possible, so they spent a full month obfuscating the code
> 
> Macro: Piece of code in a C++ or C program which is given some name. Whenever this name is encountered by the compiler the compiler replaces the name with the actual piece of code. The ‘#define’ directive is used to define a macro. For example, the compiler will interpret the word ‘limit’ as 5:  
> #define limit 5
> 
> The Line Based Macro in the Story and Why it’s So Evil (This is an extremely nerdy and detailed explanation, read at your own risk):
> 
> First of all. Spaces between lines of code isn’t really necessary. They are there so that humans can read them. An easy way to make things hard to read is to remove all the space. Which in itself isn’t a big deal because most IDE (see Ch 2 note for what this means) can autoformat code. 
> 
> The problem is that the person also added in line number based macros, which means if you reformat, the line numbers would change and the code won’t work. 
> 
> In terms of what the actual macro Ben sent to Rey does:  
> #define fuckyou(expr) (__LINE__ % 7 ? expr : !expr)
> 
> First thing you need to understand is modulo operation, which finds the remainder after division of one number by another (called the modulus of the operation). For example, the expression "5 mod 2" would evaluate to 1 because 5 divided by 2 has a quotient of 2 and a remainder of 1, while "9 mod 3" would evaluate to 0 because the division of 9 by 3 has a quotient of 3 and leaves a remainder of 0; there is nothing to subtract from 9 after multiplying 3 times 3.
> 
> So, the macro basically calculate line number mod 7. If the result is greater than 0, then it will keep the expression as is, if it’s 0 then it would revert the expression. 
> 
> The person who obfuscated the code manually changed the expression based whether or not line number mod 7 equals to 0 or not based on the line numbers of the code without space. This is not something that can be easily undone. 
> 
> Birmingham: Once the center of industrial revolution, now one of the poorest major cities in U.K. 1 in 4 people in Birmingham lives in poverty. It’s not a nice city to live in. https://www.birminghammail.co.uk/news/midlands-news/nearly-one-four-brummies-still-16041510
> 
> Bacon Bacon: A place that serves a very very good bacon based breakfast sandwich. It’s located in Inner Sunset, which is the neighborhood where Rey and Finn lives. https://www.baconbaconsf.com/
> 
> Stanford Tuition Cost: Stanford is a great school but Stanford is very expensive. A Stanford undergrad pays $17619 for a quarter currently. Assuming Rey studied three quarters a year for four years, it will add up to $211,428. In addition to that, she needs extra money for books, other fees, housing, and food. So, the final cost of her degree is closer to $300,000. This is why, even though she did get a scholarship, she still owes $150,000
> 
> Blackthorn: This is the local, fairly popular sports bar Rey went to at the end of the night. It’s located in Inner Sunset. The name of the sports bar is right on the menu picture Rey sent to Ben Solo, if you are wondering… https://www.yelp.com/biz/blackthorn-san-francisco
> 
> \--------  
> If you are on twitter, come say hi here: https://twitter.com/arcnlumi


	6. Day 4 (A Proof of the Nonexistence of God)

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you to @lovingreylo (Peyton) and @Erulisse17 for betaing. Having both of them beta for me makes my story 100x better.

Rey pulled herself up onto her seat as she processed the fact that this was the fourth time in as many days she had seen Ben Solo. An urgent question suddenly formed in her mind.  


“Are you a stalker?”  


“What?” he asked, his face twisted into what looked to be genuine confusion.  


She narrowed her eyes. “You know, a stalker. Someone who—”

He quickly stopped her. “I know what a stalker is. The answer is no.”

There wasn’t any indication he was lying, but his suspicious presence still demanded an explanation. “What brought you here then?”

“My motorcycle,” he deadpanned, a little exasperated.

That explained his leather jacket, but it still didn’t really explain why he was there in the same bar as her. “Are you saying you just randomly decided to ride out here?”  


His eyes darted over to the bartender who had finally turned their direction. “Not exactly randomly, I looked up the address on Yelp first.”

That was a surprisingly logical explanation. Rey had gone to too many restaurants and bars purely based on Yelp reviews to judge him. “Which means we’re seeing each other by chance?”  


He looked at her, but said nothing.

“What can I get for you?”  


They both looked up. The bartender was standing in front of them, waiting. Rey was secretly jealous of how quickly Ben Solo got the bartender’s attention without speaking or waving a finger. She wondered if it was his stupidly broad shoulders, or the perpetually affronted look in his eyes, or the way he held himself that screamed  _ ‘Bow to me, mere mortals’ _ .

“What IPAs do you have on tap?”  


Rey nearly snorted out loud as Ben Solo nodded at the provided options, it was just  _ too  _ fitting: a bitter beer for a bitter man.  


He handed over his credit card. “A pint of Racer 5. Also—”

Rey waved her hand in front of the bartender. “Another gin and tonic.”  


The bartender jotted down her order and flashed his eyes to Ben Solo. “On the same card?”  


Rey was about to clarify that she would pay for her own drink, but Ben Solo stunned her into silence by giving a nonchalant nod. “And two waters.”

“I’ll venmo you,” she told him the moment the bartender turned away.  


Ben Solo glanced over at her and shook his head. “Don’t worry about it.”

“No need to feel obligated to buy me a drink just because he asked.”

He shrugged. “It’s just a drink.”

“But—”

“Is this how you react whenever someone tries to buy you a drink? Or is it just me?” he asked steadily, but there was an edge to his voice that gave her pause. It sounded too close to self-deprecation for her comfort.

“That’s not…” But he wasn’t entirely wrong, was he? Five minutes ago she was desperate to have someone,  _ anyone _ , walk up to her and buy her a drink. The only tangible change since then was that Ben Solo showed up.  


She was still mulling this over and trying to figure out what to say when the bartender came back with two pints of water and the receipt.  


Ben Solo pushed the water toward her. “Drink.”

She blinked. “I’m not thirsty.”

He didn’t look up from scribbling his signature on the receipt. “Drink anyway. You need to hydrate.”

This was beginning to sound like the conversation she had with kyloren just a while ago. God, were all SF programmer dudes secretly mums? “But I am hydrated,” she argued, pointing at her empty glass. “That had tonic water, which is technically water.”

He gave a sigh that was too loud not to be meant for her. “Right, because no one can get drunk from gin and tonics.”

“I’m not drunk.”

“Hmm. Could’ve fooled me.”

The bartender returned again, this time with their drinks. Rey reached for her gin and tonic but missed when Ben Solo moved it out of her reach.

“Hey! That’s mine!” she cried, grabbing for the drink as he simply held the drink further away from her.  _ Curse him and his freakishly long arms. _

He raised a challenging eyebrow. “You can have it when your drink at least half of your water.”

“You’re an asshole.”

The edge of his lips tilted patronizingly upwards, not taking the bait. “Do you want it or not?”  


She glared at him and took a gulp of water.  


“I said half the glass.”

Rolling her eyes, Rey tilted the glass to her mouth so forcefully that a good amount started to slosh down her face. She slammed the glass down when the glass was exactly half empty and wiped her chin with her sleeve. “Happy?”

“Very,” he said, finally setting her gin and tonic down in front of her. Then he turned his eyes to the television, which was now showing some sort of American Ninja Warrior knockoff show.

“Do you do this a lot?”  


“This?”

He nodded at her drink. “Drink alone in bars.”   


It was the same judgemental tone she heard from well meaning high school teachers that used to comment on her bare-bones lunch, or the holes in her too-well-worn secondhand jeans. Rey tensed and narrowed her eyes, whatever goodwill she was feeling moments earlier evaporating. “I don’t go around seducing hapless men in bars every weekend, if that’s what you are asking.”  


His head snapped toward hers as his jaw hardened. “That wasn’t what I was asking .”

“You obviously don’t think I should be here though,” Rey continued sharply. “Am I cramping your style or something? Because I was here first, and it’s a free country, and I never asked you to sit next to me.”  


“That’s not—” he stopped, exhaled loudly, closed his eyes, and took a long drink. When he spoke again, his voice was softer, more weary. “Getting trashed in a bar alone is generally considered a stupid idea.”  


She wasn’t gone enough to argue that he was wrong. It  _ was  _ stupid, the whole night had been stupid, hell, the last few days had been stupid. Her anger drained out, suddenly she just felt tired. “Well, I had a shit week so I’m allowed to be a little stupid.”  


He considered her words for a moment, and nodded.  


She smiled wryly. “And since you crashed my pity party, I’m not really getting trashed alone, am I?”  


“I guess not.”   


They looked down at their respective drinks and drank. 

* * *

Rey was considering drinking in silence until it occurred to her that as much as she disliked small talk, it was probably more torturous for Ben Solo than it was to her. With that in mind, she asked him about his day. As predicted, he replied with the usual “okay”, and then fell silent again. 

She waited for a minute before she spoke up. “It’s  _ your  _ turn to say something, Ben Solo. I asked about your day, so now you need to ask me about  _ my  _ day or make some comment about the weather.” 

He tilted his head toward her and unimaginatively asked her about day.

She sipped the last of her gin and sneered. “My day was shitty. I did bookkeeping and realized I’m even poorer than I thought. But that answer is already over ten words longer than yours, so I think it’s only fair if you ask another question.”

“Do you always talk this much when you drink?” he asked, sliding the same pint of IPA he had been nursing since he arrived between his hands. 

“Oh no, I like to be as silent and unsociable as possible in pubs,” she told him, her voice dripping with mocking sarcasm. 

He frowned. “What do you usually talk about at bars?”

Rey found herself actually feeling a little sorry for him because he sounded candidly lost. She wasn’t the most social person in the world, but she still had a drink or two with Finn, Rose, and Poe, plus her immediate team nearly every week, and she usually enjoyed herself during those outings. She tried to imagine Ben Solo drinking in pubs with his mates (he must have some mates, right?), but she could only picture him being moody and miserable. 

“All kinds of things,” She tried to remember exactly what Jess and Cova talked about when she grabbed a pint with them the week before. “Shitty coworkers, the fact they stopped stocking our favorite flavor of popchips in the snack drawer, Stranger Things, programmer memes, funny videos?”

He chewed his lips for a moment, then he picked up his phone, googled for a video, and slide his phone toward her. “I think this is pretty funny.” 

She wasn’t entirely sure what to expect as she pulled the phone toward her, perhaps a video of an animal being a jerk, or someone failing spectacularly at something, or a toddler being uncoordinated? She was entirely wrong though because the video on the screen was titled _CppCon 2018:_ _Timur Doumler “Can I has grammar?”_

She played the video, it consisted of a geeky looking man talking about weird C++ grammar that would be perfect for an April Fool code commit. She snorted, then snickered, then doubled over in laughter, holding her stomach because she was laughing so hard it almost hurt. It wasn’t entirely because of the video content, but because it was just  _ so nerdy. _

Of all the things he could show her, he chose a recording of a talk on weird C++ grammar from CppCon? 

She gave him a few hearty slaps on his back in consolation when she straightened, because ladies and gentlemen, Ben Solo, thirty something programmer extraordinaire, really had no game. 

He was staring at her with an expression that wasn’t quite computing in her brain. Something was off, not bad necessarily, just different, like that feeling you get when you walked into a room that was tan one week and white the next. 

She took a distracted sip of water, her brain still trying to figure out what it was that was that was so weirdly unsettling, and after her fourth or fifth sip it suddenly hit her.

“You are amused!” she gaped.

His eyes drifted lazily to her as he slowly picked up his pint. “Well, you’re a passably entertaining drunk,” he admitted and unmistakably smiled into his beer. 

And Rey couldn’t really look away. 

She had looked at him for a good twenty hours during Han’s trial and never found his angular, freckles dotted face attractive. Quite the opposite, actually, because she distinctly remembered she thought he looked asymmetrical and weird, but now—

“You okay?” 

She blinked, probably less embarrassed than she should be for being caught staring. “Yeah. I just,”  _ don’t understand why I’m suddenly finding you ridiculously, stupidly handsome _ , “think you should buy me another gin and tonic.” 

* * *

“The whole thing is idiotic,” Ben said, after listening quietly to her fifteen minute rant about how broken the American immigration system was, how long everything took, and how much random chance was involved. “We really should just burn the whole system down and start afresh.” 

He might have been onto something there, but Rey wasn’t really listening. 

“Holy shit, I just called you Ben in my head.”

Ben gave her a puzzled side glance, obviously not understanding the significance. “That’s my name, yes.” 

“But I always call you by your full name in my head,” she explained, still astonished, “Well, that and Asshole.”

He snorted. 

“Seriously,” she reached over and shook his left arm excitedly. “This calls for a celebratory drink.”

He studied her for a few seconds. “You sure you need another one?”

She leaned into him and shook his arm harder. “Oh, come on!”

“Fine. But don’t blame me when you feel like shit later.”

* * *

Rey was thinking about just how weird it was that she was actually enjoying Ben’s company when a somewhat obscure Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy quote about improbable coincidence drifted into her mind:  _"Now it is such a bizarrely improbable coincidence that anything so mind-bogglingly useful could have evolved purely by chance that some thinkers have chosen to see it as a final and clinching proof of the nonexistence of God.”_

The probability of having four consecutive random meetings with Ben was obviously higher than having something as useful as a Babel fish evolve entirely by chance, but Rey found herself thinking that it might still be improbable enough to be used as a proof of the nonexistence of God. The thought amused Rey so much, she laughed out loud, which earned her a strange look by the man in question. 

“It’s just that, maybe this,” she gestured vaguely between them, “proves that God doesn’t exist.”

The expression on his face shifted to one of complete bafflement, which made Rey laugh harder. 

She took pity on him and tried to explain herself. “See, God never proves he exists because he wants people to have faith, but seeing you here by coincidence after we saw each other so many times in the last few days shouldn’t be possible, so the point is,” Rey paused, and frowned when she found herself failing to remember what the point was. 

He looked at her and pressed his lips into a line. If he was any other person Rey would think he was trying to suppress a laugh, but it was Ben so it was much more likely he was rankled. 

“The point is,” Rey repeated and brightened when she finally remembered, “the point is, our meetings are so improbable they imply divine intervention, but God never gives proof of his existence, and so that means he can’t exist. QED. It makes perfect sense.”

“Oh yes, perfect sense,” Ben said in a tone that indicated he thought whatever she said made absolutely no sense. 

She waved dismissively. “It’s not my fault you’re not enlightened to see the truth.”

“Right,” he said dryly, raking his dark hair back from his eyes, a smile tugging at his wide lips again. He looked younger, almost boyish, and Rey felt her stomach flutter. 

She sank deeper into her drink. 

* * *

“Do you know what’s the most disgusting food in the world?”

The question kind of came out of nowhere, but there was an ad on the television for Taco Bell, and it just reminded her of the question. 

“Everything they sell in Taco Bell?”

Rey visualized him poking at a Cool Ranch Doritos Locos Taco with a plastic fork in utter disgust and giggled. But no, that definitely wasn’t the most disgusting food in the world. She tried to focus on Ben, but it was difficult because the room was moving in a slow wave, “Nah, it’s jellied eel.” 

“Not sure if I want to know what that is.” 

The room thankfully stabilized a little when she squeezed her eyes shut and reopened them. “It’s traditional English food. It’s like eating slime.”

“Hm. Not an okra fan then?”

Rey gave her head a slow, wide shake. “Okra sucks, but jellied eel is—” at the corner of her eyes, she caught the people at the pool table taking leave. “Oooooh, the pool table is free! Let’s go play!” 

She spun around and jumped off the stool, missed her footing and nearly fell, but a hand caught her by her arm. “Slow down.” 

She looked up and up and up and saw a very exasperated looking Ben looking down at her and she grinned. “Ah, but then you won’t have a chance to play knight in shining armor.” 

He huffed. “I’d prefer if you don’t break your nose before the night is out.” 

She straightened up with minimal help from him, just to prove she wasn’t  _ that  _ drunk with mixed success. He extended his hand to steady her. His hand was so large, she brought her own hand next to it just to marvel at how enormous it was. “Your have bear paws for hands.”

He looked half taken aback and half amused. “Bear paws?”

“Well, maybe not grizzly bears’ paws, those are like fifteen inches long. More like a big adult black bear—” 

“Finish this.” He shoved her half finished glass of water into her hand. 

It wasn’t fair how much more sober he was. Or maybe it was fair because she was pretty sure he was still on his second beer but she was on her… actually, she wasn’t sure the number anymore. She did as she was told and handed the glass back to him. 

“So now we play pool?” she asked hopefully.

He looked down at her and sighed. “Fine.” 

* * *

In between the muffled sounds and dim lights of the bar (were they still in the bar? She couldn’t quite remember), Rey could just make out the words on the aggressively bright yellow sign on the door:

Rey groaned in frustration, and walked (or glided? Was she floating?) back to where Ben was waiting for her with a very smug and annoying  _ I-told-you-so _ expression. 

She ignored him and looked around her. Her eyes landed on a tall building that looked vaguely familiar (how did she get outside?), where she somehow knew a public restroom was. It made no sense, because she didn’t think she had ever been inside that apartment building, but she headed toward it anyway. 

“You should go home,” said Ben, somewhere behind her. Why was he following her?

“It’s too far,” she told him, filled with an odd certainty that she was right, even though she wasn’t sure exactly where she was. 

Every step was painful with her full bladder but she managed to stagger forward, until she was right at the front door. The door opened easily, allowing Rey to rush in and speed toward the corner where she knew the restroom was. Finally, she could go, finally— 

But the door was locked.

A loud, weary sigh. “I did warn you.”

“Shut up, Ben,” she snapped. She would have turned and kicked him if she didn’t need to go so badly, but she felt like she needed to burst, and she couldn’t see beyond the annoying light shining right into her face. 

Rey squeezed her eyes shut and then opened them again.

* * *

When she opened her eyes to reality, Rey blinked blearily at the light filtering through the window, put her hand to her forehead, and moaned miserably. She didn’t feel very good. 

Her back was very stiff, her throat felt raw, and her head was pounding like a jackhammer. Urg. She tried to remember what happened the night before. Visa issue. Dinner at Finn’s. Blackthorn. Oh dear, Blackthorn. She remembered Ben Solo being there, being weirdly nice and patient with her as she drank her brains out. So weird. But well, it’s over now, so no point in being too embarrassed about it. 

She peeled the blanket off and pushed herself up from the floor. In front of her was a frosted window surrounded by a white wall, on one side of her was a dark grey cabinet and a shower, and the other side was a sink and a toilet. _ A toilet. _ Good. Wonderful. It was right there and she really needed to pee. 

A wave of nausea hit her when she got up a little too fast, but thankfully she was only three steps from the toilet. She sat down, her eyes half closed, and sighed in satisfaction as she relieved herself. She flushed, walked over to the sink, and washed her hands. She squinted at herself in the mirror and winced. She looked horrible, her hair was messy and matted, and there was a gross stain on the front of her shirt. She felt sweaty. She smelled bad too. She needed a shower. 

She turned to the shower behind her. It was nice and clean, with a fancy chrome and glass shower door, and there’s a white towel hanging nearby, but she couldn’t shake the feeling that something was off. 

She stared at it. 

“Dark marble,” she thought, her eyes fixed on the tiles surrounding the shower, her muddled brain desperately trying to process exactly what was wrong with what she was seeing. 

Then, suddenly, like a fast moving freight train she didn’t see coming, it hit her: 

This wasn’t her bathroom. 

In fact, this wasn’t a bathroom she had ever been in before. 

* * *

Rey had blacked out exactly once before in her life, during her first company camping trip, where everyone seemed dead determined on getting her drunk. She woke up the next morning in Finn and Rose’s tent and no recollection of how she ended up there. She apologized to them, they laughed at her, and told her it was okay, and that was that. 

But waking up in an unfamiliar bathroom was an entirely different matter. 

A few awful internet stories came to mind. Her heart threatened to jump out of her chest as panic set in. She frantically looked down at herself to check on her clothes. Instantly, she could breathe a little easier when she confirmed that she was indeed still wearing the same clothes as the night before, underwear and socks included. 

_ Good, good, good. _

Her eyes shifted down to the mess of blanket she had untangled herself from minutes earlier. Her heart rate slowed back to a more manageable rate when she noticed two bottles of coconut water and a packet of Tylenol sitting close by on the floor.  _ Nice, probably not a psycho.  _ She checked off another item on her mental list when she noticed her wallet on top of the toilet. Her money and cards were exactly where she left them.  _ Awesome, not mugged _ . The only thing missing was her phone, but that could simply be in a different room.

Figuring she was probably not in any immediate danger, she reached down and grabbed the coconut water and Tylenol. After confirming the bottle and the packet were both sealed, she quickly downed the two pills with the coconut water. The pain in her head flashed hard and hot, but she stuffed her wallet into her back pants pocket and strolled to the door anyway. The sooner she got out of here, the higher the chance she could just find her phone, sneak out before her host wakes up, dig a hole, and jump in so she would never have to think about this ever again. 

She took one last deep breath and opened the door. 

She inwardly cheered when she saw that the connected bedroom was dark and quiet. She looked around her, found the bedroom door, and tip-toed toward it. She was about to do a little celebratory dance when she crossed the doorway, but then she heard rustling, followed by muffled footsteps.

She froze. 

There was a yawn. Then a familiar voice asked: “How are you feeling?”

_ Ben Solo _ . She blacked out last night and followed Ben Solo home. 

_ Shit. Shit. Shit. Fuck. Shit. _

* * *

Rey’s brain was racing a hundred miles an hour as she came face to face with Ben Solo.

The most glaring and urgent problem was that Ben Solo was shirtless. 

Objectively, it made sense, this was his home, his bedroom, and he just got out of bed. But subjectively, it was short-circuiting her brain because he had toned arms and a six pack and she knew for a fact programmers in their thirties were supposed to be unshredded from their years in front of a computer. 

“Do you have a shirt or something you can put on?” she asked, averting her eyes like an embarrassed teenager. She was thankful the hallway was dim because she was fairly sure her face was an unbecoming shade of red. 

He regarded her with a slightly bored, don’t-be-ridiculous expression and pointedly ignored her request. “You were throwing up pretty badly last night,” he said instead after a few seconds. 

“Oh,” she said, because it was the only thing her shell-shocked brain could think of. If there was something more embarrassing to seeing a man who you hate, but don’t fully hate anymore, standing half-naked in front of you, it was the knowledge the said half-naked man remembered everything you did while you were piss drunk.

As if just to prove how right she was he continued. “I told you to take the couch up front when you feel better but you fell asleep on the floor and I figured it was best to let you be.”

Her earlier fantasy of digging a hole and jumping in it was returning in full force. 

She rubbed her face with her hand in shame. “I don’t remember any of that.” 

“What is the last thing you remember?” 

Good question. She strained her brain for the last solid memory she had. “Did we go looking for a restroom?”

“No?”

“Oh, okay so I guess that was a dream,” she said, partly to him and partly to herself, trying to piece everything together. She suspected a few lines in the dreams were pulled directly from what Ben Solo said to her in real life when she was barfing her guts out in his toilet. 

It was difficult to think through the killer headache, but eventually she figured it out. “I think I was making you play pool with me? Please tell me that was the last thing we did before we left the bar.”

He thought for a moment. “You might have made me buy you a shot when they did last call.”

Rey groaned. “And you let me follow you home after that?”

“I wouldn’t say ‘let’,” he said slowly, swiping back his sleep-tousled hair, “Actually, I think there might be a video of what happened on your phone.”

He walked passed her purposefully, down the hallway to what looked like the living room. Not sure what else to do, Rey followed him. 

The first thing that caught Rey’s attention when she turned the corner was the fact that the living room might be larger than her whole bachelor suite, the second was the perfect non-obstructed upper floor view of downtown SF and the Bay Bridge behind the floor to ceiling windows, and the third was how cold, impersonal, and bleak the room looked despite the spectacular view and furniture that looked like it was lifted straight out of a West Elm catalogue. 

“Wow,” she muttered, an honest reaction to all three things before turning to find Ben Solo disconnecting her phone from a charger on a side table.

“Here, check your album. You drained your battery drunk videoing.” 

She grabbed the phone from him, navigated to the video album, and cringed when she saw a dark, poorly focused videos created at 2:15am in the morning. 

Rey hated watching herself in videos, but she hated not knowing what she did even more, so she braced herself and clicked play. 

* * *

The video showed the pavement for three full seconds before the phone was clumsily flipped over and the rear facing phone camera focused on her chin instead. 

“Hello, Future Me,” she slurred, then turned the camera shakily to her left to what must be Ben Solo’s torso. “Ben said I can’t walk straight. I’m videoing this to prove him wrong. 

The phone was flipped again to show the pavement and her shoes, then the video followed her walking in a decidedly non-straight line until she stepped on her own shoelaces and fell forward, only to be stopped by Ben Solo’s hand. 

“Rey,” he said, sounding understandably exhausted as the camera captured part of his silhouette and the cloudy sky, “You should go home.”

“I don’t wanna.” 

A long-suffering sigh. “You have to, you can’t sleep outside.” 

“Can’t I just—” she hiccupped, “—go to your place?”

“I don’t think that’s a good idea,” he said, a perfectly reasonable response. 

“Because I’m not hot enough to bring home?”

“Because you’re drunk, and because when you sober up you will want to be at home,” he told her blankly.

“I won’t!” she cried, loud, upset, the camera shaking in emphasis “I always wake up alone when I’m home! I hate being alone!” 

“Rey, tell me your address so I can call you an Uber.”

“No!”

Another long, exasperated sigh. “Fine. Call yourself an Uber.” 

“No!” 

“Rey.” 

Shuffling, then the phone moved down to the ground, still pointed at the clouds. The microphone caught a soft sniffle, followed by another, louder one. 

A few moments later, Ben Solo’s chin came into view. “Rey. You really can’t sleep here,” he said more gently. 

“Just go if you are going to leave me alone,” she replied in a broken voice, her breath uneven. “Everyone always leaves me.” 

“That’s... not true.”

“It is!” The sniffles were morphing into heaving sobs. “My parents, Han, and now even Finn, Rose, and Poe. No one ever stays, no matter how much I want them to. I’m always so alone.”

“You’re n—” 

The video cut out. 

* * *

Forget digging a hole, Rey just wanted the Earth to open up and swallow her whole. She had never felt more humiliated in her twenty-six years of life than this moment, it was worse than being called out by Karl in eighth grade about her ratty clothes, it was worse than Chrissy from third grade telling everyone about how her parents left her at a fire station. There was always someone else she could blame in those instances, but this time, it was just her being drunk and stupid. And she had to break down in front of Ben Solo who—

“Rey, it’s fine.” 

It was only then when Rey realized she was pacing like a crazy person. “It’s not fine! Fuck! I can’t believe I said those things!”

“You had a bad week,” he reminded her.

The whole week of horrible news suddenly rushed to the forefront of her mind making her feel like she was drowning.

“I’ve been thinking more about your problem last night,” Ben continued. “I know a couple lawyers who may be able to help and…” 

_ How could they possibly help more than Resistance Labs’ immigration lawyers who focuses solely on processes visa? _

“...You shouldn’t give up so easily…” 

_ She didn’t choose to give up, she was just being real. _

“...And you know, if you don’t want to go back to U.K., you can just pick a place to go in Europe since Brexit hasn’t happened yet…” 

Her head was throbbing and she couldn’t hold her tongue anymore. “Oh my God! Can you just shut up? Do you really think I haven’t considered all my options? Or do you think I’m too stupid to do my own research? My visa issue is the  _ only  _ thing I have thought about for the last three days!” The dam that kept her emotions in check broke as words rolled out in unstoppable waves. “Premium filing still takes time! I’m not rich enough to just chill on savings and not take a part time job! It’s not easy to find a job somewhere else in Europe when I only know English! And none of that solves the fact I have to leave everyone and everything I care about in U.S.!” 

Her breath was haggard, she was biting her lips so hard it almost drew blood, and Ben Solo was staring at her, speechless. 

“So, no, Ben Solo, unless you want to marry me, there’s nothing—NOTHING—you can do to help my situation!” Rey screamed from the top of her lungs. 

She turned roughly away when she felt a stray tear roll down her cheek.  _ God damn it. _ It was so mortifying. Of all the people in San Francisco she could break down in front of, it had to be Ben-fucking-Solo. She took a few steps backwards, intending to spin around and run away before she could embarrass herself any further, but a large hand wrapped around her wrist before she could.

“Wait.” He didn’t say any more for a second. He only looked at her, his eyebrows drawing minutely together, as if he was puzzling through a stubborn bug, an impossible problem. 

Then, just as Rey was about to shake his hand loose, she heard him ask, “Do you want to?”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> \----------------jargons_and_technical_and_SF_stuff.txt----------------
> 
> Pride and Prejudice: The similarities between “It’s your turn to say something, Ben Solo. I asked about your day, so now you need to ask me about my day or make some comment about the weather.” and the line Elizabeth Bennett said to Mr. Darcy during their dance “It is your turn to say something now, Mr. Darcy. I talked about the dance, and you ought to make some kind of remark on the size of the room, or the number of couples.” is entirely intentional. The silence in the bar was reminding drunk!Rey of that scene for some unfathomable reasons (I mean why, right?), so she borrowed it to amuse herself (in Ben Solo’s expense). 
> 
> Popchips: A healthier brand of “chips” that has the approximate texture of styrofoam because it’s made by puffing up potato with high pressure and temperature instead of frying. It’s very commonly found in Silicon Valley companies’ free snack cabinets.
> 
> CppCon 2018: Timur Doumler “Can I has grammar?”: A nice recording of a 7 minutes lightning talk by Timur Doumler (software developer, member of the ISO C++ committee) on weird C++ grammar. To normal human beings, it's just a lecture, but to C++ programmers it’s hilarious. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tsG95Y-C14k
> 
> CppCon: An annual, week-long face-to-face gathering for the entire C++ community organized by the Standard C++ Foundation, a non-profit organization behind the language and the C++ community itself. It’s considered by many as the top C++ conference in the world. https://cppcon.org/
> 
> Babel Fish: A fictitious alien fish that performs instant translations from the Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy by Douglas Adams. The Babel fish is small, yellow, leech-like - and probably the oddest thing in the universe. It feeds on brain wave energy, absorbing all unconscious frequencies and then excreting telepathically a matrix formed from the conscious frequencies and nerve signals picked up from the speech centres of the brain, the practical upshot of which is that if you stick one in your ear, you can instantly understand anything said to you in any form of language: the speech you hear decodes the brain wave matrix.
> 
> West Elm: Home furnishing store owned by Williams-Sonoma Inc. that is a few steps up from Ikea, not exactly designer, but still way above Rey’s furniture budget. Note, in reality Ben Solo's furniture is probably not from West Elm but some place much more expensive, though he has zero idea where his furniture are actually from. He just hired an interior designer to furnish his place right before he moved in and provided almost no input, this is why his place is impersonal. https://www.westelm.com/pages/about-west-elm/
> 
> \----------------Other Notes----------------  
> I have written a one-shot story for a Reylo summer exchange called It Happens. If you are in the mood for some fluff after reading this chapter. Feel free to read it here: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20468060


	7. Day 4 (A Difficult Binary Problem)

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you to @lovingreylo (Peyton) and @Erulisse17 for betaing
> 
> Thank you to @taxila14 for brainstorming the make of Ben's bike with me

Rey processed his answer once, twice, then a third time, only to come to the same conclusion: there was no rational universe in which Ben Solo would say what she thought he just said. She never heard of hangovers impacting a person’s hearing, but her truly exceptional hangover was the only reason she could think of for why she had misheard him in the quiet living room.

She looked down at his hand, still on her wrist, then back up at his face with a disoriented frown. “What?” 

“I asked, do you want to?” 

She vaguely registered that Ben Solo had let go of her wrist but she was frozen in place. She was sure she heard him right this time, but his words were still completely incomprehensible. “I don’t under — What do you mean?”

“If what really bothers you about your visa situation is the fact you have to leave the U.S., then marrying an American would solve that problem, right?” he replied in a perfectly impassive manner, as if he was spelling out an obvious solution to a common problem. As if he didn’t just —

“You can’t possibly be offering to...” She couldn't finish the sentence, it was too ridiculous.

“We can get married. I don’t mind.”

Her brain was imploding, or melting, or just generally going out of service. It took her three or four tries before she could form coherent words. 

“Are you on drugs?”

He chuckled. Actually chuckled. “It’s just a signature on a piece of paper. It’s not a big deal.” 

There was no joke in his eyes, he was  _ serious. _

Rey wasn’t the most romantic person in the world. She didn’t believe in “the one”, just people who are more or less less suitable for each other, but even she wasn’t quite jaded enough for that level of pragmatism. “I am 3000% sure anyone sane and sober would disagree with you on that.”

Ben Solo rolled his eyes derisively at her. “Doesn’t make me wrong. Name one thing that will materially change for me if my marital status changes from single to married in a government database.” 

Rey stared back at him like he had grown two heads, because honestly, this was — _ he was _ — crazy. Completely insane. “I don’t know, like be in a normal romantic relationship with someone without soap-opera level drama?” It was just one of several answers that instantly popped into her head. 

“That won’t be an issue. I don’t date,” he said with a certain supercilious finality in his tone that rubbed her the wrong way. 

“Oh, so you are one of  _ those  _ people who are too good for relationships because you thinks love is an illusion, or an unreliable chemical reaction, or something equally stupid cynical?”

Ben Solo scowled down at her. “No, love is real, but all love and relationships  _ ever  _ do is make people miserable and insane. I want no part in any of that.” 

Her hand had made its way to her forehead before she realized what she was doing. He was utterly wrong, but it was too early and she was too hungover to be having this argument, especially with Ben Solo of all people. “Okay, disregarding the importance of  _ feelings  _ in marriages for now, aren’t there real legal implications to marriage? I’m sure you wouldn’t want to give half of,” she waved her arm at everything around her, “all this to me when the inevitable divorce happens after my visa issue gets resolved.”

Ben Solo shrugged too nonchalantly. “I’m sure that can be mitigated with any half-decent prenup.”

He sounded sure, and since she knew nothing about prenups outside of the fact it was a thing that rich people had, she decided not to argue with him on that point. “Fine, but this still won’t work. USCIS doesn’t just hand visas out to everyone with a marriage certificate you know. They’ll want proof of a relationship, to safeguard against exactly what you are suggesting.”

“Interviews can be prepped, your friends will probably write any letters you’d need. I don’t know what else is required but I can check with my lawyer friend,” he nodded as he spoke, as if he was convincing himself as much as her. “I’m sure we can figure something out.”

“But—”

“It’s just an option. You decide whether you want to take it. There’s no point in debating the details unless you actually want to do this,” he clarified tersely, rubbing his face and yawning again.

It was only then that she noticed the dark bags under his eyes and remembered that it was—she glanced at her phone—only 8:14am after a very late night of babysitting a blackout drunk. And to make it worse, she grimaced, she had most definitely woken him up. 

“I need coffee,” he grumbled, still rubbing his eyes as he made his way to the open kitchen. 

“I can make it for you,” she offered, wanting to do something to lessen her guilt. 

“You can’t.”

“I—” She was about to launch into a passionate, indignant argument on why she was perfectly capable of making coffee but then he pulled out from one of the cabinets an electric kettle, a scale, a Chemex, and a very complicated looking coffee grinder, “Oh.” 

“I’m very particular about my coffee.”

His jaw had the same curve she remembered from the night before when he was smiling. 

“Why are you doing this?” she asked after a few minutes of silence, facing the windows. In the background, she could hear him fill the kettle. 

“Doing what?” 

“Helping me.” 

He waited until the coffee grinder stopped to answer. “I haven’t helped you yet.” 

She spun around to face him. “But you’re offering. And you went through all kinds of trouble for me last night too. Why? What are you getting out of it?”

He picked up the kettle, his eyes focused on the scale as he poured water carefully over the Chemex. “I’ll probably get a better tax return if we’re married.”

Rey eyed the high-end appliances in his kitchen skeptically. “Somehow I find it hard to believe you care about that sort of thing.”

“It’s a matter of principle,” he replied sardonically, “I always care about having a bigger tax return.”

“Right, as a capitalist.” 

He smirked a little. “No, as an American.”

She folded her arms across her chest. “But what else though? Because a potential tax return isn’t enough to justify the efforts.”

After a long pause, he replied: “Compassion, I guess.” 

She found it too hard to believe. “There must be something else.” 

“There could be,” he said with a mild scoff.

Rey couldn’t decide if he was being sarcastic of if he was telling the truth. Either way, it didn’t look like he planned to explain anything since he had turned his attention back to his coffee. Unsatisfied, she persisted and tried a slightly different tactic. “I’ll let you know now I’m broke and you’ll get absolutely nothing from suing me.”

“I won’t.”

“You could.” 

“Why would I even do that?”

She shrugged. “Beats me, but I mean, you sued Han.”

“That’s different,” he said flatly. 

“Is it though?” 

His head snapped up, he was glowering. “I’m not the one getting deported, Rey.” 

It was a low blow. She opened her mouth to snap at him but no words came out. He was right. The reality of her shitty situation hit her anew. It was already Saturday. She had less than six days before she had to leave and she had no good or sane solutions. Fuck, she was pretty sure she wasn’t an alcoholic, but she kind of wanted to drink again. 

The bang of a closing cabinet door followed by the thud of a mug being slammed down on the counter woke her up from rumination. She watched him pour coffee from the Chemex to his mug, his movements visibly more tensed and forceful than before. She must have offended him with her perfectly justified counter example, she realized. 

A story Finn told her about one of Ben Solo’s tantrums surfaced at the back of her mind. Finn probably exaggerated a bit, but she still wondered if she should run and take cover. She waited tensely, as he sat down and drank his coffee, relaxing only when a full minute passed with no further signs of aggression. He was sullen, but then again, he was always a bit sullen. 

She took a deep breath and cautiously approached him. “I didn’t mean to offend you.”

“You didn’t.”

He said that but his voice was clipped. Rey might not be the most sensitive person in the world, she could still read between the lines. “You  _ seem  _ offended. If it’s because I mentioned Han—” 

He exhaled loudly. “That’s not...” he trailed off, passing his mug from one hand to the other in a distracted manner. He took occasional sips of his coffee, without looking at her, and he was silent for so long she assumed he wouldn’t continue. Then, out of nowhere, he said: “I offered because I wanted to help you out, but you can believe whatever you want.”

He didn’t exactly sound angry, but he was frustrated, a touch bitter, and slightly… hurt. It made her stomach squeeze uncomfortably. 

“It’s not you. I mean, it is a little,” she corrected because she hated lying, “but it’s not just you. I would have asked the same question to almost anyone on Earth.” She rubbed the back of her neck and sighed. “For what it’s worth, I have trust issues. Comes with growing up in the system. It’s hard for me to wrap my head around random acts of kindness.” 

”It’s fine,” he said after a moment, his tone softer. He took another sip of his coffee and surprising her, added: “I’m sorry about my outburst.” 

“I don’t really think you are going to sue me,” she admitted quietly, recognizing an olive branch when she saw one. “And I still don’t get why you did it, but you took care of me last night, so I know you can be nice sometimes.”

“I was in a rare generous mood.” 

She laughed, because his deadpan delivery was weirdly funny. “I guess I got lucky then.”

His lips twitched. “I guess so.” 

It suddenly occurred to her that the Tylenol had taken effect since her her headache had subsided to a mere nuisance sometime in the last five minutes. She decided it was probably best to get going and not to push her luck too far. “What’s the best way to go from here to Inner Sunset?” 

He thought for a moment. “If you wait for five minutes, you can just share an Uber with me.” 

She must have made a face because he rolled his eyes and clarified before she could argue: “I’m heading there to pick up my bike.” 

“Oh,” she said sheepishly. She could recall a fuzzy memory of him mentioning something about a motorcycle. “You left it near the Blackthorn?” 

He shot her a wry half-smile. “Had to. You were dead set on ‘sleeping at my place’ as you put it.”

She could feel the heat on her cheeks as she covered her face with her hand. “Please tell me I didn’t say or do anything more inappropriate than that.” 

He finished the last of his coffee and stood up. “I don’t think you said anything much worse than what was on the video.” 

She tried her best not to think too much about the overt omission. For a few minutes, she contented herself with watching him rinse his mug and the Chemex. It was mildly fascinating since washing mugs right after using it really wasn’t in her vocabulary. She had thought he hired a cleaner since his place was almost show-room clean but now she wondered if he was just one of those obsessively neat people. 

This led her to think about how his eyes might twitch at the blanket she had carelessly left on his bathroom room, which naturally led her to think about the night before, and once she started, all she could do was imagine increasingly embarrassing things she might have done during her black out.

“What did I do last night?” she asked when she couldn’t stand not knowing anymore.

He glanced at her, bemused. “Drink too much?” 

“No! Like outside of that breakdown on the street, did I do anything else? I don’t remember anything after we played pool, and even that was really foggy. Am I going to find out about a sexual harassment suit in a few hours?”

Ben snickered as he dried his hands. “Nothing from me. You were handsy during the Uber ride, I guess? But honestly I just remember being really worried you were going to kill my Uber rating by throwing up in the car.” 

She covered her face in utter mortification. “Oh God, I didn’t, did I?”

“Nope, you held it all in until you got out of the Uber like a champ. Was even considerate enough to walk a bit away so that nothing would get on me, but I can’t say the same about you,” he said, gesturing vaguely at the stain on her shirt. “Anyway, I should get dressed so we can get going.”

Rey followed his eyes to his still very bare chest. She had pointedly avoided looking at and thinking about his chest the whole time they were talking, but now that her attention was brought back to it she couldn’t stop herself from ogling. She had always thought those really big dudes in gyms were kind of gross, but he wasn’t overly muscular, just toned and cut, and smooth like models on magazines, and Rey felt her mouth go a little dry. Yeah. He’s definitely not gross— quite the opposite, really—and she really needed to look away now. 

Ben was mercifully looking the other way when she forced her gaze back on his face, and Rey thanked the universe for small mercies. “You go do that,” she said, her voice squeakier than she’d like it to be. 

“There’s more coconut water in the fridge. Feel free to get some if you are thirsty.” With that he bowed his head, turned, and strode away.

It was only when he had disappeared down the hallway that Rey realized: sometime in the last thirty minutes, she had started to call him Ben, and this time, she was perfectly sober.

* * *

Not entirely to her surprise, Ben wasn’t someone who liked to talk during Uber rides, which suited her just fine. She had only been awake for about an hour, but she was so tired she fell asleep a few minutes into the ride and only woke up again when they were next to Golden Gate Park. She felt remarkably refreshed, which was odd. She usually couldn’t sleep well on Ubers, strange car and strange driver and all.

“Do you want me to add a stop to drop you right at your place?” 

She blinked slowly, letting her brain to catch up. “We are getting dropped off close to Blackthorn, right?” 

He nodded. “Just a few blocks from there.” 

“I’ll just get off there and walk,” she said and covered her mouth when she couldn’t stop a yawn, “I live close by.” 

His phone buzzed, his face scrunched into an annoyed expression the moment he glanced at the notification on the screen. He picked his phone up, angrily typed a response, and slammed it on the seat next to him. 

“Work?” she ventured a guess, recognizing the expression. 

“Yeah. Just got pulled into a dumpster fire,” he answered, then might have grumbled something about morons under his breath. 

She made a face. She hated being on leave, but weekend fires were clearly something she wouldn’t miss. “So you have to work today?” 

“Probably have to deal with this when I get home. Which is shit, because it’s 99% not my systems' bug, but—”

“You have to prove that it’s not yours,” she couldn’t help but finish the sentence for him because explaining to incompetent firmware guys why something wasn’t her bug had always been the bane of her existence, a total waste of her time. 

“Yeah, it’s a total waste of time,” he said, echoing her sentiment almost exactly. 

She smiled, because though they were very different people, on this front they were fully aligned. “You have my sympathy.” She might have added more, but the Uber pulled over at that moment. 

She took a better look around as she got out of the car. The first thing she noticed was that they were near Sixth and Irving, which was nice because she was less than six blocks away from home. The second was the black motorcycle locked to a lamp post that Ben was walking toward.

“Is that a BMW GS?”

He turned to her sharply, his eyes a tad wider than usual, evidently not expecting her to know anything about bikes. 

She shrugged. “I used to work at a garage when I was a teenager and GSs would occasionally pop up in the shop,” she explained, jogging up to the motorcycle to take a closer look. “Oh, this is one of the new fancy R1250 with the improved engine.”

She looked up to find him looking down at her with a strange, indecipherable expression. 

“What?” 

“Do you ride?” 

“I know how to, but I never bothered with getting an M1 license since I take public transit everywhere.”

She turned back to the bike, and studying the details. It was obviously not the base model, not with the styling extras attached. It wasn’t custom built, but she could tell he spent time researching and deciding on the exact add-on he wanted to buy. For whatever reasons, she had pictured something classic, with modifications, similar to what Han rode, but she supposed German precision fitted him better. 

She looked up to find him still looking at her with the same expression. He didn’t seem mad, just thoughtful, but she figured she should err on the side of caution. She pulled her hand back and stepped away. “It’s nice.” 

He smiled a little, unlocking the bike. “Yeah. I like it.” 

Just like that, the list of confirmed things Ben Solo liked grew to three: light roasted Ethiopian coffee, Soylent, and BMW R1250 GS. It was an odd list, but then again, based on the last few days she could only conclude he was a peculiar mix of contradictions, so...

“Take this.”

She was so deep in her thoughts she only realized what was happening when a sticky note was shoved into her hand. 

“My number,” he caught her eyes before he continued, his gaze solemn and intense, “I’m serious about the offer.”

She swallowed and stuffed the note into her pocket. “I know. I’ll think about it.” 

He pulled his helmet out of a hidden storage compartment. It was black, just like his motorcycle and leather jacket, she mentally added ‘black’ to the short list of things Ben liked. “Let me know if you decide you want my help.” 

He waited until she nodded to put his helmet on and climb on his bike. 

After everything she heard about and saw of him, she had expected to find him angry and mean, but at least to her, he had been nothing but patient and unexpectedly... nice. She didn’t know what to make of it, but she found herself wanting to say something before he drove away. 

“Thank you, Ben.” His name sounded foreign on her tongue, but it felt important to say it in light of everything. “For last night and for offering. I still don’t really understand why you want to help me, but it’s nice of you, really.”

He looked at her from behind his mask for a few seconds, and nodded. “Goodbye, Rey.”

She waved in response as he started his bike. He waved back once, then zipped down the street, leaving her with few answers and many, many questions.

* * *

The Craigslist lady who agreed to buy her dinner table was running twenty minutes late. Which was most unfortunate since twenty minutes wasn’t quite long enough for her to nap, but it was most definitely long enough for her mind to wander back to Ben’s offer. She knew she must be on the verge of going mad because the more she replayed their conversation in her head, the more she was seeing the logic behind the insane scheme. 

She really couldn’t think of what Ben could gain from marrying her, outside of ridiculous plots that belonged more in the Korean dramas Rose made her watch than in real life, but what did she know? He sued his own father after all, so maybe his life was a soap opera. Maybe he needed to get married for an inheritance, maybe he was trying to avoid an arranged marriage, maybe he really was just looking for a bigger tax return. 

Did it really matter? Marry him would mean she could stay in San Francisco, potentially put her on the fast track for a green card, and she had very little to lose. She was too poor to be preyed upon for money, he didn’t seem all that... interested in her physically, based on the night before, and it wasn’t like she was attracted to anyone currently, so she wasn’t losing out there either.

The only (admittedly massive) problem was the fact she would be married and indebted to Ben. 

While that was an undeniable issue, the longer she thought about it, the more bearable it actually seemed. She could help him with work under the table, or do the maintenance on his motorcycle, or something else she hadn’t thought of yet to make herself useful to him, to pay him back. As for the marriage, they would need to keep up appearances in public, maybe hang out with friends a couple times a month without killing each other, but most importantly, it would be temporary. She might not be a good enough actress to convince Finn, but he’d probably understand her logic if she told him the truth, and even if he didn’t, he would never expose her. She could make it work. 

Desperate times, desperate measures… which brought her back to the fact she might be turning into a lunatic, because she was actually considering the bonkers solution of getting a marriage visa. 

Badly needing a break from the topic, she chose to distract herself with her usual vice and picked up her phone. 

There were a few messages from Finn asking if she was joining their usual Saturday board game hang out at The Game Parlour in a couple hours. It was better than moping at home, so she sent an affirmative. There was another message from Rose, who said she might have seen her on Irving Street on the way to her yoga class earlier. Rey shrugged and told her she probably did. 

She did her usual social media round next, liked a few posts, upvoted a few more, and left a punny comment on one of the programmer humor posts. 

She left Discord last. She had been avoiding it the whole day because she didn’t want to deal with the fallout from the mortifying drunk messaging she did the night before, but having run out of other appropriate distractions, she steeled herself and forced herself to read the new PM from kyloren.

> **kyloren Today at 10:06am**
> 
> You made it home okay?
> 
> How’s the hangover?

The drunk messages from the night before sat glaringly above the new message. She winced at every obnoxious messages, every spelling mistake, and fantasized about digging and jumping in a deep hole again. How was she ever going to live this down? 

> **coderray Today at 1:23pm**
> 
> Yeah, made it home safe and sound
> 
> I'm surviving but hangover sucks  
> 

The message reminded her she needed to hydrate, so she went to get herself a glass of water. By the time she came back, a reply was waiting for her.

> **kyloren Today at 1:25pm**
> 
> Remember that next time you start drinking. 

She grimaced at the shortness of his response, she had the distinct feeling he was annoyed. 

> **coderray Today at 1:27pm**
> 
> Okay, I am VERY sorry about last night, I promise, I’m not usually like that
> 
> I plead temporary insanity
> 
> Please forgive me

She made herself put down her phone after the fifth read through of her response. There was no perfect answer, and if he was really going to be petty about this there was really nothing she could do, she decided. She had much more urgent issues to attend to, like a choice that would change her life, and more presently, the fact the Craigslist lady just rang the doorbell.

* * *

Something was off. 

She had placed her initial settlement at the wrong spot, made a few bad trades, and the robber had been in one of her hexagons for four turns. This in itself wasn’t that weird, half of her brain cells were mulling over her impossible life problem after all. What was weird was the fact she was winning. It made no sense. Poe was one of the most competitive people she knew and would never let anyone win Settlers of Catan on purpose, but that meant she somehow made less mistakes than everyone else, which was… ridiculous. 

Thirty minutes later, when she finally gotten the winning ten victory points (a touch painful since they were all playing so poorly), she went to the counter to refill the hot water for her tea while Poe and Finn went to pick another game. She could feel Rose’s eyes follow her the whole time, staring. 

“Do you want me to get you anything?” she asked, because Rose didn’t have a habit of staring at her for no reason. 

She started as if she didn’t realize what she was doing and shook her head. 

It was weird but Rey let it go. 

Poe and Finn came back with Kerplunk, which was a good choice because pulling sticks out of a tube didn’t require much brain work and it took less steady hand than Jenga. They played best of five rounds, with Rose beating Poe by two marbles in the fifth game and deciding to buy a waffle to celebrate her victory. Finn went with her to the counter, leaving Rey and Poe alone to clean up.

“Any update on your visa situation?” Poe asked.

“Er, no?” Kaydel probably knew more than her about the progress of the reapplication, and they had just talked the night before so she had no updates. She was still flip-flopping about Ben’s proposal, but there’s no way Poe would know that.

“Well, if there is, you need to tell me,” he said with a wink. He was obviously trying to imply something but for the life of her she wasn’t sure what. 

Strange. 

It only got weirder when she went to pick the next game with Finn, who kept looking like he had something to say to her only to look away whenever she turned to him expectantly. 

She didn’t have the patience for this ridiculous game. 

“Okay, what’s going on?” she demanded when she returned to their table with Caverna in hand. 

The three of them looked at each other like they had just been caught with their hand in the cookie jar. 

“Don’t tell me nothing, because I think I deserve to know whatever you guys are hiding.”

Finn gaped at her. “Us? Hiding something?” 

She stared back at him, a little bewildered. “Well, you guys have all been acting weird since we got here.”

“You sure  _ you  _ don’t have anything you need to tell us?” Finn said, almost yelling. 

For a moment, her mind flashed to Blackthorn and Ben, but it didn’t make any sense. If Finn had known about her drinking binge last night, he would have personally gone to get her and drag her home. That couldn’t be it. It must be something else. “I really can’t think of anything…” 

Poe was smirking. Rose looked amused. Finn was thoughtful. Which was good, because she almost thought they were angry at her or something. 

“Shit, your poker face is good, Peanut. But the gig is up.” 

_ What was he talking about? _

“I saw you this morning,” Rose supplied. 

Rey frowned, perplexed, still not quite understanding where this was going. Rose often saw her on Irving Street because they lived in the same neighborhood. There wasn’t really anything strange about that, unless...

“With Ben Solo. You were wearing last night’s clothes.” 

_ Oh. _ Shit. “I can—That—I mean—It’s not what you think.” 

Poe burst out in laughter. “It’s fine, Rey. You’re an adult.“ 

“I am? I mean, yes,” she replied, too befuddled by the whole situation to speak more eloquently. 

Poe slapped her across her back. “I had no clue, zero. I mean we all sort of thought you were dating someone for a while now, but we had no idea it was  _ him _ . But the more I think about it, the more it makes sense. I mean, secret dating would totally be Solo’s MO, and you’re probably too scared of our reaction to say anything, so I get it. As they say, hindsight is 20-20.” 

Rey pinched herself to make sure she wasn’t dreaming or hallucinating, because this was utterly, completely nuts. 

“Well, I still can’t believe you have such terrible taste in—”

Rose elbowed Finn on his side, hard. “And that’s exactly why Rey never told us. You hate him.”

“Yeah, but I’m a big enough person to look past his many fatal flaws if he somehow makes her happy…” He trailed off and turned to Rey. “I mean, you are happy, right?” 

Rose snorted. “They’ve probably been dating for over a year. If she was unhappy she would have dumped his ass by now.” 

Rey was too flabbergasted to manage anything more than a nod. 

“What Finn and Rose are saying is that we are all happy that you’re staying state-side with us,” Poe added with a relaxed grin. 

“I am?” _What the hell was happening?_  


Finn rolled his eyes so hard his irises nearly disappeared into his eyelids. “Of course, I mean Solo is a jackass, but even he won’t just let his secret girlfriend get deported.” 

* * *

Rey glared at the ten digits on the screen, her thumb hovering just above the call button just as it had been for the last five minutes. It was completely pathetic. 

It shouldn’t be complicated, it was a binary choice: either she took Ben’s offer or she didn’t. She just needed to think this through logically and make a decision and get on with her life. 

One option would keep her in San Francisco, while the other would send her packing her bags. In that aspect, she knew exactly which option she preferred. She had already established there was little she could lose and everything to gain due her life situation. And with respect to her friends... they were already assuming she was getting married, even if it was because of a crazy misunderstanding that she hadn't gotten to correcting. 

So what if this was going to be a loveless marriage for personal gain? She certainly wasn’t the first woman in the world to enter into such a scheme, and like Ben said himself, marriage is just a signature on a document, a Boolean field in government databases.

Pragmatism had served her well so far, and there wasn’t any reason to stop. 

“Fuck it,” she muttered under her breath, squeezing her eyes shut and letting her finger touch the screen before she could change her mind.

Her heart thumped as the phone ring. Once. Twice. Wouldn’t it be funny if he actually wasn’t available and she panicked over nothing? Third time. Or if he actually gave her a fake number and this was really all just a cruel joke? Fourth time. She was just about to give up when it suddenly connected. 

“For the last time, calling me is not going to make the team debug this any faster,” Ben growled before she could say anything, sounding very, very cross. 

Rey reminded herself that he was clearly talking about work to keep her instinct to hang up at bay. “Hi?” 

“Rey?” 

She laughed nervously. “Yup. But I can call back later, if this is not a good time.” 

“No, it’s fine. Sorry, thought you were Hux,” he gave a long suffering sigh. “He’s been calling and messaging me non-stop since the morning and—never mind, it doesn’t matter. What is it?”

“I’ve been thinking more about our conversation. Your offer, specifically.”

A pause. “Have you decided?” 

She took a deep steadying breath. She was doing this. She was really doing this. 

“Yes. Let’s get married.” 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> \----------------jargons_and_technical_and_SF_stuff.txt----------------
> 
> Chemex: A manual pour-over style glass coffeemaker, favored by coffee hipster due to the fact it was invited all the way back in 1941 and it has a nice wooden collar that made washing it difficult. Note: If you don't know what it looks like, there's a Chemex in the moodboard. :) 
> 
> The complicated coffee grinder that Ben pulled out: Is actually the Breville Smart Grinder Pro. It’s about $200 and it has a fancy electronic screen. Ben bought this one because it has an encyclopedic list of options and features and it allowed him to do timed dosing down to 0.2 seconds. 
> 
> Golden Gate Park: A large urban park in SF consisting of 1017 acres of public grounds. It’s actually 20 percent larger than Central Park in NYC. Golden Gate Park is frequented by Rey since she lives in Inner Sunset area, which is adjacent to the park. 
> 
> BMW R1250 GS: A new model of one of the most popular bikes in the world in the last decade. It’s known for its nice, comfortable rides on the road, with option to go off-road when necessary. R1250 GS differs from its predecessor most noteworthily by its motor, which has more power and more torque. It’s about 25k with options. For a nice detail reviews and pictures of the bike you can go here: https://www.bennetts.co.uk/bikesocial/reviews/bikes/bmw/bmw-r1250-gs-2019--review  
> https://www.advpulse.com/adv-bikes/bmw-r1250gs-and-r1250gs-adventure-review/ (pictures of all the color options here)
> 
> The Game Parlour: A really cool board game / cafe in Inner Sunset. They have a very good selection of games, decent coffee, and some amazing waffles. https://www.yelp.com/biz/the-game-parlour-san-francisco
> 
> Settlers of Catan: I like to think everyone in the world knows this game, but just in case you don’t, this is a multiplayer board game designed in Germany where players assume the roles of settlers and each attempts to build and develop holdings while trade and acquire resources. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Catan
> 
> Kerplunk: A classic game first created in 1967. It consists of a transparent tube, plastic straws, and about 30 marbles. Players take turns taking out the plastic straws that are supporting the marbles. The goal is to have the least amount of marbles fall during your turn. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Aslf72DPSR0
> 
> Caverna: A worker placement game with the focus on farming. For detail rules and descriptions, see here: https://www.ultraboardgames.com/caverna/index.php
> 
> Boolean field: A Boolean is a binary variable field which has two possible values: true or false. A field with Boolean data type may be used to identify whether someone is married or not. In real world implementation, you probably would be using a different data type since you may also want to identify if someone is divorced, separated, widowed, etc.


	8. Day 5 (A Lesson on Insanity)

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you to @lovingreylo (Peyton) and @Erulisse17 for betaing
> 
> Thank you @taxila14 for the moodboard she made for Chapter 7: https://twitter.com/taxila14/status/1176531818490880002?s=20

Rey was running very, very late. 

Which was a little ridiculous because she had specifically woken up at eight that Sunday morning to give herself ample time to get ready for her brunch with Ben and his lawyer friend to talk about their... _arrangement_. What she actually did was dither around for over two hours: She paced around her apartment, mindlessly browsing Reddit and Instagram, half-heartedly responding to Kyloren’s PMs about the awful race condition he had to fix the day before, and, shocking herself, washed the tower of dishes and mugs at her sink. That really showed how little she looked forward to brunch, since some of them had been sitting there for over three weeks.

In the end, she only started brushing her teeth, showering, and getting dressed forty minutes before their brunch reservation. By the time she rushed out the door (after a last minute game of “find her wallet under a pile of clean laundry she dumped on her couch the night before”) it was 10:15am. The reservation was at 10:30am, and Google Maps clearly stated it would take thirty minutes to reach the restaurant.

So much for being on time for once.

She sprinted three blocks down to Carl Street so she could catch the next N Muni. She made it, but just barely. As she caught her breath, her phone buzzed. It was a text from Ben. 

> **Ben Solo at 10:24am**
> 
> We are here.

Rey winced at the message. Of course, he and the lawyer would have to be those crazy punctual people who arrived early to everything. 

> **Rey at 10:24am**
> 
> Sorry, I’m running about ten minutes late

It was probably going to be more like fifteen minutes, but Rey always liked to be optimistic.

> **Ben Solo at 10:26am**
> 
> We got seated at a table next to the windows on the left. 

Rey cursed herself for not getting ready earlier. The whole situation was already bizarre enough, but her tardiness only made everything even more awkward. 

> **Rey at 10:26am**
> 
> I’m really sorry
> 
> **Ben Solo at 10:27am**
> 
> It’s fine. Reservation is under my name, just let them know when you get here. 

For someone who had, according to Finn, once freaked out and threw a chair across the room because a meeting facilitator didn’t manage a two hours meeting well enough to get to his agenda items, he was surprisingly calm about her tardiness. Actually, he had been surprisingly patient and calm and tolerant with her, period. He hadn’t yelled at her when she was an obnoxious drunk, didn’t roll his eyes when she had breakdowns, and didn’t press her for answers when he had every right to. If she didn’t know better, she would have questioned whether the ill-tempered asshole First Order engineer Finn worked with was really the same Ben Solo.

But, since she did know better, she simply couldn’t understand the discrepancies. 

She let herself ponder for a few more minutes before she forced herself to spend her time on something more fruitful like browsing through pictures and reviews of the French restaurant she was heading to. The name looked familiar, even though she had never been there. The four star rated restaurant must have came up on her Yelp searches, only for her to stay away because of the three dollar signs next to its name, which was of all things... _Monsieur Benjamin_. She was rushing too much earlier to appreciate this, but now that she had a moment to breathe, the fact she was meeting Ben at a restaurant called Monsieur Benjamin was pretty hilarious. 

For a moment, she considered the possibility that Ben picked the restaurant for the name. Then, a mental image of him in a top hat and monocle snobbishly turning his nose up at a cup of coffee popped into her head. She snickered, shook her head, and went back to reading the reviews. 

* * *

Ben wasn’t at the table the hostess had stopped at. 

A short haired blonde woman in tailored suit jacket with high cheekbones and piercing blue eyes was there instead. Rey stared at her, not sure how to react before the hostess cut through the tension by pulling back a chair diagonal from the woman.

“Here you go, Miss,” the hostess said cheerfully, gesturing for her to sit, seemingly oblivious to the awkwardness. 

Rey took a step toward the chair, stopped, and looked back at the blonde woman. “Are you Ben’s lawyer friend?” she confirmed, just in case.

The woman rolled her eyes and scoffed. “I suppose I’m something like that.” 

Rey held out her hand and stiffly introduced herself. “Um, I’m Rey.”

The lawyer gave her one last appraising look down and up before taking her hand. “Phasma. Benjamin’s at the restroom.” 

Satisfied, Rey nodded and made her way to her seat and settled down. The hostess took her leave after handing her a menu. 

“You’re not quite who I imagined when he told me someone else was joining us,” Phasma said after a moment. 

She didn’t sound judgemental, more perplexed, but Rey couldn’t help but be defensive. “What were you expecting?”

“Honestly, a middle-aged white man.”

Rey had wondered if Ben told Phasma of her situation ahead of time. She guessed the answer was a resounding ‘no’. “Why would you think that?” 

Phasma shrugged. “Nine out of ten times when an antisocial wunderkind developer like Benjamin needs legal consultation on a weekend it’s because his side project caught the attention of some VC or a buyer,” she paused for a moment, took a sip of her Bloody Mary and added, “No offense if you are either one of those, but Silicon Valley is still mainly run by middle-aged white men.”

Rey returned a wry smile. “Can’t fault you for a rational guess. But no, I’m just a lowly developer.” 

“Right, and so begs the question of how you and Benjamin are connected.”

“I’m—” What exactly? _Acquaintance_ sounded disingenuous given everything, _friend_ didn’t quite describe their relationship, and _fiancé_ was definitely the wrong term for two people who had never even dated. _Partner in visa crime_ was the most accurate term she could think of, but that probably wasn’t something she should say to a lawyer. She could feel her palms sweat as she fidgeted with the hem of her shirt and wracked her brain for an appropriate answer.

She heard shuffling behind her and turned to find Ben walking around to his seat. Relief washed over her, comforting, like hot tea on a cold day. A week ago, if someone told her she would ever feel relieved to see Ben Solo, she would have most definitely called them crazy. Then again, everything that happened in the last five days was absolutely absurd. “Ben!” 

She must have sounded far too enthusiastic because Ben shot her a look of confused and alarmed befuddlement. 

She would have laughed had she not felt Phasma’s scrutinizing gaze, she felt almost naked under it. Ben must have felt it too, because he turned to the lawyer but otherwise seemed unmoved. 

He barely sat down before Phasma spoke again. “Well, now that we are all present, care to enlighten me on what this is about? I’m sitting at the edge of my seat in anticipation.” 

Ben took an impassive glance at her. She met his glance with a blank look she hoped properly conveyed: _I have no idea what to say, I don’t know her, can you please take this?_

He turned back to Phasma. “Her H1-B extension got denied. We’re getting married,” he announced flatly. 

Phasma choked on the Bloody Mary she was drinking. Rey handed her a napkin, knowing that if she wasn’t so numb from the insanity of the whole thing, she also might have coughed at the bluntness of the reveal. 

“Her H1-B extension was denied and the two of you are getting married,” Phasma repeated when she recovered enough to speak. She looked at Rey and then back at Ben, “You’re not much of a planner, Benjamin, but I’ve never heard you mentioned you were dating someone.” 

Ben stared back at her and said nothing. For someone who was infamous for his anger-management issues, he had a very good poker face. 

Phasma narrowed her eyes. “You two are _dating_ , right?” 

Rey and Ben looked at each. He still had his poker face on, but she knew she must be looking like a deer in headlights and their silence went on too questionably long, because Phasma held up a hand before they could answer. “Actually, don’t answer that, I want to maintain plausible deniability.” 

Phasma exhaled slowly and pinched the bridge of her nose. “When was your extension denied?” 

“I got the denial notice on Wednesday.” 

Phasma nodded thoughtfully. “Good, you didn’t really overstay your visa. We at least have a few days to plan and prepare.“

“What is there to plan and prepare?” Ben asked tersely, his voice almost a low grumble. “I made an appointment with my lawyer for a prenup tomorrow, and we’ll just book a slot at city hall and sign the papers.” 

Phasma shot Ben an agitated glare. “You do realize, given the _very_ suspicious timing, the government will consider your CR-1 case marriage fraud unless you can prove you have a bona fide marriage, right?” 

“What do you need to do to prove that?” Ben asked slowly. Rey was too overwhelmed to react beyond staring at the two of them. 

“A shit load of things,” Phasma snapped and chugged the rest of her Bloody Mary. “Also, my consultation isn’t free, so you’re paying for brunch.” 

Ben rolled his eyes but made no effort to refuse. 

Phasma wasted no time to wave their waiter over to their table. “What’s the most expensive brunch item on your menu?”

“I believe that would be the ninety-five dollar Plateau. It’s our seafood platter with—”

“I’m sure it’s great, I’ll take that. And another Bloody Mary.” 

Rey had a silent heart-attack at the price, but Ben was weirdly nonchalant at footing the bill for Phasma’s brunch. She had only budgeted twenty dollars for her brunch, but she would have to talk to him later about maybe splitting Phasma’s seafood platter, because she couldn’t possibly let Ben pay over a hundred dollars because of her—

“And you, Miss?” 

Rey was glad she studied the menu on the bus in advance because she didn’t even have a chance to open the menu since she sat down. As usual, she strategically chose the cheapest main course. In this case her choice was between a sixteen dollars scrambled eggs with bacon or a fancy version of thin crust pizza with ham. She chose the thin crust pizza because that seemed harder to make. “The Tarte Flambee.”

“And to drink?” 

“Water is fine.” She certainly wasn’t going to pay five dollars for a cup of tea.

“And for you, sir?” 

Ben stared at the menu for a moment. “I’ll take the Steak Frites with Sauce Choron.”

Rey was pretty sure that was a fifty-something dollar dish. She remembered because she was rolling her eyes at it earlier wondering what kind of ridiculous person would order something so expensive for brunch. Guess she got her answer. 

“How would you like your steak cooked?” 

“Medium rare, but substitute the frites with vegetables.” 

“I can substitute the frites with a side of frisée anx lardons.”

“That works, but no bacon. What’s the dressing?” 

“I believe it’s some sort of lemon vinaigrette. I can confirm with the kitchen though if you like.”

“It’s fine, but I’ll have the dressing on the side.”

“And to drink?”

“What brand of sparkling water do you have?” 

“I believe it’s S. Pellegrino.” 

Ben nodded. “I’ll have a bottle of that.” 

Rey’s head was spinning. Being a coffee aficionado was one thing, but making five modifications to his order and asking about the brand of sparkling water was just a completely different level of extra she couldn’t quite comprehend. If she was even half as picky as he appeared to be she would have died of hunger years ago. 

“Shall we get back to business?” Phasma asked the moment the waiter was out of earshot, snapping Rey out of her thoughts. 

“You don’t need me to tell you that this administration is scrutinizing visa applications more than previous ones,” she paused and turned meaningfully to Rey, “Given her current visa situation, there will be further scrutiny. In other words, you two will need to prepare a shitload of evidence to prove that this marriage is real.”

Rey swallowed hard. “What kind of evidence?”

“Evidence of cohabitation, which includes driver licenses, bills, bank statements, insurance showing the same address. Evidence of commingling of finances, you can show that by having a couple of joint accounts, joint health insurance, filing tax returns together.”

Whatever Phasma was describing sounded decidedly more involved than the signature on a piece of paper business that she and Ben had spoken about the day before. Ben probably never had to live with a roommate in his life and sharing accounts and bills just sounded like a new sort of logistics nightmare. 

Rey turned stiffly to face him, who was looking back at her with the same slightly unreadable expression she had seen a few times in the past few days. She wondered if he was trying to find the right words to retract his offer then, because really, cohabitation and commingling of finances were just too much to ask of an almost-stranger, or really, anyone. 

Then Ben gave a brief shrug. “That doesn’t sound too hard.” 

Rey barely managed to keep from gasping. The question of why he was willing to go so far for a girl he barely knew and what he could possibly gain from all of this beyond her good will came to the forefront of her mind again.

Phasma snorted. “Yeah, that’s the easy stuff. Then you need affidavits, which means you need letters and potentially testimonies on the authenticity of your relationship from a few friends and ideally fam—”

“That’s not possible for me, you already know that,” Ben interrupted curtly. 

“I don’t have a mother and I’m not on best terms with my adoptive father,” Rey quickly clarified. “Are there ways to go around the family affidavits?” 

Phasma tapped her fingers on the table for a moment. “Perhaps you can get all your friends aligned on some kind of star-crossed...” She straightened and quieted when the waiter returned with the Bloody Mary and sparkling water. 

Ben nodded impatiently at the waiter to send him back on his way as soon as possible. “How many affidavits do we need?”

“At least two of each side, which I’m sure she would have no problem finding, but you…” Phasma trailed off, sipped her Bloody Mary, and smirked. “I can perhaps be one of your affidavits, if you are willing to do me a favor and be an expert witness in a few of my upcoming cases.”

“Two cases.” 

“Oh no, this is a big favor. Five.” 

Ben and Phasma stared at each other in silent negotiation. “Only if you review whatever evidence we gather and let us know if they are sufficient and consult whoever else we find as affidavits on what to write and what to say.” 

“Deal,” Phasma agreed, a smug smile creeping slowly across her face.

Rey was beginning to understand what she meant when she said she was “something” like Ben’s lawyer friend. 

“Oh, and before I forget, there’s one more thing you need to prepare for,” Phasma flashed them a scarily wicked grin, similar to the one she sees on Poe’s face just before he mercilessly teased Finn about a particularly embarrassing drunken misadventure, “You two will be newlyweds still in your honeymoon period, USCIS will expect to see evidence of intimacy.” 

Rey almost accidentally spit out the water she was drinking and even Ben froze in the mid-pour of his sparkling water for a moment. “Phas,” he warned, a hint of simmering anger that would make lesser men and women run.

But the grin on Phasma’s face simply widened. “I don’t make the rules. The government is the one who wants evidence of _intimacy_.” She enunciate the last word in a deliberately suggestive manner. 

“Right, because the government just loves to see people fuck,” Ben snarled under his breath, his voice dripping in sarcasm. 

“I generally advise my clients to keep their evidence PG-13, though I will have to check to see if there are actually any rules against pornographic evidence,” she replied wryly, obviously enjoying the reaction she was getting out of Ben.

Rey decided it was best to deescalate the situation before Ben started to do something that would get them kicked out of the restaurant, like swinging his bottle of sparkling water at the window or stabbing the table with his butter knife. “What do people use to prove intimacy?” 

“Photos from their wedding, honeymoon, vacations, holidays, tickets and bookings to events and trips they take together, receipts and pictures of gifts to each other, texts, email, social media posts about their undying love, et cetera. Generally, the more sickeningly sweet and cute the evidence is, the better.”

“Do we really need all of that?” Rey asked weakly. 

Phasma looked her solemnly in her eyes. “Either you go all out or you don’t go at all. This is the fastest route to permanent residency, but if the USCIS rules your application as marriage fraud, you’re _never_ going to get approved for a green card.” 

* * *

He wouldn’t let her pay for Phasma’s brunch, saying that was between Phasma and him, but he let her buy him coffee. 

They found a spot on a bench overlooking this strange looking, vaguely Buddha-like statue on the small park next to Ritual, light-roated-Ethopian-pour-over in his hand, and a latte with no foam and a very generous amount of honey in hers. It felt a little like a dejavu, she had bought him coffee just Thursday, but somehow that felt like a lifetime ago. 

“How’s your coffee?” she asked conversationally. They had been ironically silent since she told him they should talk and he agreed. 

He looked down at his red cup and nodded. “It’s good.”

She had hoped it was to his standards when she suggested the place. She first knew of Ritual in an AMA with Adam Savage, where he mentioned he liked getting coffee there, and she figured if it was good enough for some TV personality, it was probably good enough for Ben, actually… “Should I call you Ben or Benjamin, because Phasma call you Benjamin and I never asked, and I’m really sorry if—”

“Ben is fine,” he said, cutting her rambling off quickly, “Phasma found out my mother,” he might have grimaced, but it was gone so quickly she wondered if she imagined it, “used to call me Benjamin whenever I did something wrong, and Phasma had been calling me that ever since because it amuses her.” He rolled his eyes hard at the last part. 

“You and Phasma get along surprisingly well.” 

He sipped his coffee and shrugged. “We had worked together for seven years and risen up the ranks together. I guess we learned to… respect each other.”

“She’s knowledgeable.” 

“She is,” Ben acknowledged thoughtfully. “And she didn’t raise any real concerns so—”

“No real concerns?” Rey interrupted, gaping, she couldn’t stop herself. “She practically just explained exactly why this whole thing won’t work.”

“She told us what we have to do. If it was impossible, she would have said so outright.” 

Rey threw up her hands in exasperation. “You seriously don’t think, after everything she said, that the obstacles are insurmountable?”

“No. There’s an obvious path forward.” 

Oh, he was being impossible. “Yes, but it involves a whole lot more than just signing a piece of paper. We need to live together, share bank accounts, convince everyone that we are in some sort of secret, star-crossed relationship that—” frankly sounded like the crazy headcanon Rose, Finn, and Poe had made up yesterday, but that was not the point, “—it’s too much. You can’t do all of that just to help someone you met a few days ago.” 

His lips twitched. “Technically, I met you two years ago and by weird coincidence you and—”

“I don’t think Han’s trial counts! And honestly, until maybe two days ago I’m pretty sure I kind of hated you.” 

It was the truth, a truth he surely knew given the harsh words she screamed in his face when she ran into in front of the Whole Foods last Wednesday. So why did he suddenly look like she had just thrown water in his face? It didn’t make any sense.

“I mean, I’m sure you felt the same way about me. I was the one who gave you the hard copies of the source code in Brush Script font size six, after all.”

He laughed, and Rey tried her best to ignore the fact his laughter sounded hollow. “How could I forget?” 

“Exactly. So while I really appreciate your willingness to marry me even after knowing everything, I can’t in good conscience go through with this insanity, especially when I will obviously get so much more out of this than you.” 

“You’ll have to leave the States.” 

“It’s not ideal, but maybe if I’m lucky USCIS will change their mind and I can come back in a few months.” 

“But what if they don’t?” 

She swallowed, shrugged, and took one long drink of her latte. For a full minute, the two of them stared at the weird Buddha statue in silence. Rey wondered if that was it, that her acquaintance with Ben would end there and she would go back to U.K. and never—

“What if,” he said suddenly, breaking her out of her rumination, “What if there is something you can help me with in exchange? Would you reconsider?” 

“Don’t make up something just to make me feel better.” 

“I’m not,” he said, and he sounded so earnest she couldn’t help but turn to him. 

He had his trademark non-expression, but she could tell by the way his jaw tensed and his Adam’s apple bobbed that he wasn’t at ease. “Despite the Brush Script, you’re a good programmer.” 

“How would you even know that? That code base was full of Han’s code.” 

“I can tell the two of your codes apart. He’s a hacker, everything he touches ends up being an unmaintainable mess, but your stuff… it’s good. I can use your help on a project.”

It was flattering to hear him say that, but Rey knew better than to let her ego get the better of her. “Silicon Valley has lots of good programmers. You don’t need a fake marriage just to get someone on a project.”

“But see, what I need is a good programmer who _can’t_ betray me.” 

The word ‘can’t’ echoed in Rey’s ears. “This project of yours doesn’t happen to be illegal, does it?” 

“No, nothing illegal, but the CIO won’t be thrilled if he finds out about it. I don’t trust people as a general rule, but I do trust that you won’t let anything leak while you need my cooperation for your visa.” 

“Why does this sound like a deal with the devil?” Rey muttered. 

Ben raised an eyebrow. “I’m a monster, you said so yourself.”

She did call him that, didn’t she? “You know, I might not be good enough to help you.”

Ben pressed his lips together. “You’ll be fine. You’re a better coder than you know. That said, if you really can’t help or if you decide you don’t want to help,” he shrugged, “I will hold my end of the bargain regardless. I wasn’t thinking of the project when I initially offered to help you, but you insisted on a trade.” 

Rey could hear her heart drumming in her ear as she considered his words. “What will you get when this project is all done?” 

He lips curled into a faint smile that never quite reached her, but somewhere in the middle distance between them. “I’ll become what I was meant to be.”

Rey didn’t know what he meant, but she could tell he wanted whatever the project would give him. A favor for a favor. For the first time since marrying Ben became an option, the scheme actually made sense to her. 

She took a deep breath to steady herself. “I’ll help you with your project.”

Ben took a deep breath of his own. “Then, I’ll help you get that visa.”

Growing up in the foster care system, beginnings and endings were frequently thrust upon her with no warning and little meaning or reason. It was futile to resist, so she had learned to accept them like annoying acquaintances you couldn’t quite shake. However, this beginning, unlike the ones that preceded it, didn’t begin with her all alone. Even though there were challenges looming on the horizon, she allowed herself to bask in warmth in the knowledge that, for the moment, she had an unexpected ally and they were going to carve through fate together.

She smiled and extended her empty hand. He blinked, then met her gaze and reached over until his long fingers wrapped around her hand.

No one on Patricia’s Green batted an eye as their fingers touched. There was nothing noteworthy about a man and a woman holding hands on a bench in a sunny afternoon, but to Rey, it felt significant, it felt like hope. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> \----------------jargons_and_technical_and_SF_stuff.txt----------------
> 
> Race condition: an undesirable situation that occurs when a device or system attempts to perform two or more operations at the same time, but because of the nature of the device or system, the operations must be done in the proper sequence to be done correctly. This is the bug that Ben was fixing the day before and he was in a bad mood when Rey called him at the end of the last chapter. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Race_condition
> 
> Monsieur Benjamin: A pretty good French restaurant in Hayes Valley. Serves a nice weekend brunch. Ben goes to the restaurant a few times a year, possibly something to do with the name. https://www.yelp.com/biz/monsieur-benjamin-san-francisco?q=flambee
> 
> CR-1 Visa: A visa that grants spouse of an U.S. citizen conditional permanent residency. In the past this visa is granted pretty quickly, but now it takes on average 7 months. Luckily, during this time your spouse can stay in U.S., unluckily, unless you spouse has another work visa through a different path, he/she cannot work while waiting for the visa. For a very good video on legal immigraiton insanity, see John Oliver’s segment: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tXqnRMU1fTs
> 
> Frisée anx lardons: A salad mad with curly endive leaves and crispy bacon. Lardons refers to the small strips of pig belly (aka bacon), so basically Ben was saying yeah, Bacon salad works but no bacon. 
> 
> Ritual: Another local SF coffee chain frequented by coffee hipsters. This particular location is at Hayes Valley. https://www.ritual.co/
> 
> AMA with Adam Savage: This is the Ask Me Anything that Adam Savage did where he mentioned Ritual. Note, the Ritual he goes to is the Mission location. https://www.reddit.com/r/IAmA/comments/48tkhu/i_am_adam_savage_cohost_of_mythbusters_and/?amp=1
> 
> Latte with no foam: The reason why Rey ordered latte with no foam stems from her believe that milk is more expensive than air. If she was going to pay $5 for her coffee, she better be getting as much milk as possible. 
> 
> Weird Buddha-ish figure: Every year a new piece of artwork is displayed on Patricia’s Green. This year (2019), the rotational art work is a 15 feet tall female Buddha made of recycled metal. https://datebook.sfchronicle.com/art-exhibits/female-buddha-standing-15-feet-tall-takes-perch-in-hayes-valley
> 
> Patricia’s Green: A small park in the middle of Hayes Valley situated right next to Ritual. https://sfrecpark.org/destination/patricias-green-in-hayes-valley/patricias-green-in-hayes-valley-picnic-area/


	9. Day 6-7 (A Rather Haphazardous Plan)

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry for the delay. I meant to post on Tuesday, but work, a visit by the in laws, a trip to Sonoma (yes during the fire), got in the way.
> 
> P.S. Thank you to @lovingreylo (Peyton) and ksco and @kagomehime369 for betaing.

**Day Six**

> **Rey at 2:02am**
> 
> Hey, I just finished researching what we have to do
> 
> Can we talk?
> 
> **Ben Solo at 6:07am**
> 
> I’ll be in an all day workshop today, but there’s a lunch break at 1pm. Does that work?
> 
> If you want to meet in person, you have to come to me.
> 
> **Rey at 8:35am**
> 
> Where should I meet you?
> 
> **Ben Solo at 8:36am**
> 
> FO HQ on Stuart Street.
> 
> **Rey at 8:40am**
> 
> Should I eat beforehand?
> 
> **Ben Solo at 8:41am**
> 
> Your choice. There’s a cafeteria here if you want to pick up lunch.
> 
> **Rey at 8:41am**
> 
> Oh! I can eat there?! My friend told me it’s crazy subsidized and he could get a rainbow roll, seaweed salad, and two tacos for $5. Is that still true?
> 
> **Ben Solo at 8:42am**
> 
> Not sure of exact price, but someone on my team confirmed the food is still subsidized.
> 
> **Rey at 8:42am**
> 
> I’m eating there then
> 
> Do I just msg you when I get there?
> 
> **Ben Solo at 8:43am**
> 
> Just sign in with front desk as my guest. I’ll come pick you up at the lobby
> 
> **Rey at 8:43am**
> 
> See u at 1 then
> 
> **Ben Solo at 8:43am**
> 
> OK

* * *

The First Order lobby looked fittingly like it was designed by the same people who designed a supervillain’s lair in the latest Marvel movie. It was floor to ceiling black and dark grey marble lit up by cold spotlights, the walls were of sharp geometric angles that belonged on bleak modern art pieces, and the red First Order logo behind the receptionist gave the the long glass strips hanging from the ceiling an almost sinister glow. Rey had heard all about the strange architecture from Finn in one of his many rants about the company, but hearing about it didn’t really prepare her for how small and cold the lobby made her feel.

She pulled her thin jacket closer to her body, drew out her phone and typed a message.

> **Rey at 1:03pm**
> 
> Hey, the receptionist said he notified you already. But hey, I’m here. 

Putting her phone back in her pocket she watched a new batch of people going out through the badging gates in front of the elevators. No Ben. _It’s only three minutes past one_ , she chidded herself, but restlessness washed over her all the same. She pulled out her phone again to review her notes on civil marriages and, when Ben was still nowhere to be seen after she’d re-read everything twice, she opened Discord. 

She didn’t have any exact messages in mind so she looked around her for inspiration. Thankfully the First Order lobby was full of inspirations.

> **coderray Today at 1:08pm**
> 
> Seriously, why are you still working in FO? 
> 
> Even the lobby is dreadful
> 
> Lex Luthor’s office looks more inviting
> 
> It’s colder than the North of the Wall

“Sorry, meeting ran long.”

She jumped and looked up and there was Ben, standing a few feet away, looking imposingly tall in his dark jeans and black shirt. She stuffed her phone into her back pocket. “Oh—” she cleared her throat when the word came out in a squawk, “Hi! You snuck up on me.”

“If by snuck you mean not being noticed because the other person wasn’t paying attention…” he noted dryly, but he was more amused than annoyed. It was so strange that she could tell that now after just a few days of interacting with him. 

Rey returned a sheepish smile.

“You got your visitor badge?”

He nodded when she gestured the temp badge and turned toward the gate. His strides were so long, Rey had to do a half jog to follow closely behind him. She felt a little less out of place now that he was here, but it still felt too much like walking into enemy lines for her liking.

“You okay?” he asked as he swiped them in.

Rey wondered if her expression was that telling or if he could just read minds. “Yeah, this lobby is just… cold.”

“We can meet somewhere else next time, if you want.”

He was being...nice, or at least more considerate than he really had any business to be. Her stomach did a weird flip flop without her permission and she reflexively replied with a joke. “I’m not rushing to a decision until I see the cafeteria.”

He snorted as he stepped into the elevator. “You and food.”

“Yup, we are the best ship.”

It only occurred to Rey that “shipping” might not be common vocabulary amongst the general population when she saw the perplexed expression on Ben’s face. She quickly explained: “Shipping? As in when you want two people to be together. You know, like when Stranger Things fans ship Mike and Eleven together or Harry Potter fans ship Draco and Hermione together?”

He blinked at her, his face blank. It was obvious he had no idea the concept existed until that moment. “That’s a thing? I never watched Stranger Things or Harry Potter...”

She gasped at his ignorance. “Where have you been living? A hole?” She would have said more on the matter, but the aroma of food wafting in from the opening elevator door shut her up.

“I heard the food here is pretty decent,” Ben said, as he stepped out beside her.

Rey knew this already. It was telling when Finn never once complained about the food even though he hated the First Order to his core. While there weren’t eleven micro-kitchens serving everything from Banh Mi to Chicago dog like at Facebook, or the daily Michelin Star chef crafted menus at Dropbox, The First Order cafeteria apparently had grass fed beef, charcuterie, and Marcona almonds. The food was memorable enough that Finn still reminisced about it every so often, especially when they picked up their overpriced salad bowl at Mixt.

“Do you have a preference?”

She couldn’t hide her excitement as she scanned the spanning cafeteria and its many food station. “What are my options?”

* * *

> **Rose at 1:08pm**
> 
> Hey, do you want to grab dinner with us tonight?
> 
> **Rey at 1:15pm**
> 
> Sorry, can’t tonight. Need to go see a lawyer tonight.
> 
> **Rose at 1:15pm**
> 
> Lawyer? What happened??
> 
> **Rey at 1:16pm**
> 
> Signing a prenup
> 
> **Rose at 1:16pm**
> 
> !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

**New Group Chat with Finn, Rose, and Poe**

> **Finn at 1:17pm**
> 
> WHY DIDN’T YOU TELL ME YOU ARE GETTING MARRIED??????!!!!!
> 
> **Rey at 1:17pm**
> 
> I thought you knew
> 
> You said yourself ‘Solo won’t let his secret girlfriend get deported’
> 
> **Finn at 1:17pm**
> 
> YEAH BUT I EXPECTED YOU TO TELL ME WHEN IT WAS OFFICIAL
> 
> **Rey at 1:18pm**
> 
> To be fair, we’re still figuring out the time slot for the civil ceremony
> 
> **Poe at 1:18pm**
> 
> I hope you know, as the _best_ boss in the world, if I don’t get an invitation to your wedding, I’ll write that up as an area of improvement in your year end evaluation
> 
> **Rey at 1:19pm**
> 
> Hmmm, I’m seriously considering reporting you for coercion
> 
> **Finn at 1:19pm**
> 
> I’m invited though, right, Peanut?
> 
> **Rose at 1:19pm**
> 
> Oooh invite me too!
> 
> **Poe at 1:20pm**
> 
> PLEASE DON’T REPORT ME. I just want to see my favorite developer get married, you don’t know what it’s like to see you all grown up.
> 
> **Finn at 1:25pm**
> 
> Rey????

* * *

They settled down at the first empty table they found. 

She had gotten a free-range chicken noodle soup, a roasted grass fed lamb pita, and organic shoestring fries, while Ben had gotten a boring looking grilled chicken salad with arugula, apples, cucumbers, and currents. Just as Finn had told her, lunch was heavily subsidized and only cost her five dollars, which was quite honestly the best part. 

Rey tried the soup first, and confirmed it was, as she suspected, superior to the Campbell variation. After swallowing her second spoonful, the question that she had been holding back finally came out: “Why would you have Soylent when this is here?” 

He dug into his salad and shrugged. “It takes too long.” 

_Ridiculous,_ and yet, somehow so very Ben, she almost laughed out loud. “It’s in the same building,” she pointed out.

“Yeah, but there’s the lunch rush elevator wait, and the cafeteria wait, and—” he waved generally around him. 

She finished chewing her first bite of her pita (it was divine). “You don’t want to interact with fellow humans?” 

She meant it as a joke, but Ben didn’t deny her assumption and she suddenly wondered if she might have accidentally hit the truth. 

“But you’re eating with me now,” she commented quietly.

She only realized she said the stray observation out loud when he looked up at her with that indecipherable look she had sometimes seen on his face. She flushed. “If you prefer to eat lunch alone, just tell me 'no' in the future. You don’t have to force yourself for my sake. I can meet you any time—” 

“Let’s postpone this talk to next week then.”

“Oh, I guess—Wait, what?”

He looked at her evenly. “You said I can meet you at any time.”

“Ah, I did say that, but—”

“I mean, what’s the rush? We’re only getting _married_ in the next five days and we are totally ready.”

It took her another second to realize what he was doing and remember his reputation as a sarcastic ass. She berated herself for thinking he made a special exception for her, because of course he didn’t, he was just doing what was necessary to keep his end of the their deal. It was perfectly logical, nothing to be disappointed about.

“Fine, you have a point,” she said. “We _do_ have to talk, and the earlier we figure this stuff out the better. So, where should we start?”

“How about the _when_ ,” he suggested reasonably. “I need to know when to schedule time off.”

She forced herself to focus on the facts to avoid thinking about how whatever project she would be helping him with might not offset the efforts he was putting in for her green card. “I researched how to get married and found out we need to get a marriage license and then the civil ceremony. To get either of those things in San Francisco we need appointments. The good news is that there are still a few slots open on Wednesday and Thursday this week for the civil ceremony.”

Ben considered the information for a moment. “Thursday. The later the better.”

“There are only a few slots still open on Thursday and the latest is…” she pulled out her phone to look at the screenshot she took earlier. “1:00pm. They have later slots on Wednesday though.”

“I can’t on Wednesday. Big deadline.”

Rey wished she could do more than just not bothering him on Wednesday. “Okay, so Thursday it is.”

Ben nodded slowly. “And the marriage license, can we get that on the same day?”

She grimaced guiltily. “The next available marriage license appointment in San Francisco is two weeks out. We can get a marriage license in Oakland without an appointment, but we will have to wait in line. Are you by any chance free tomorrow?” she asked. It wasn’t as if they had a choice since they were going to get married on Thursday and he was busy on Wednesday.

Ben pulled out his phone and scowled, presumably at his calendar. “I can go in the morning,” he said after a long pause.

“The office opens—” Rey quickly searched for the Alameda County Clerk Recorder's Office’s hours, “—8:30am. Want to go when it opens?”

“Yeah. The line will probably be shorter.”

They made a weirdly efficient team, Rey noted as she checked her notes for the next discussion item. “I’ll book the appointment and fill out the online application, but I need your full name, address, birthday, state of birth, your parents birth names, and their state of birth.”

Ben picked up his phone again and fidgeted with it for a full minute. “Done.”

Her phone buzzed half a second later.

> **Ben Solo at 1:39pm**
> 
> Benjamin Bail Solo
> 
> 338 Spear St UNIT 32H, San Francisco, CA 94105
> 
> October 12th, 1982
> 
> District of Columbia
> 
> Leia Amidala Skywalker, New York
> 
> Han Solo, Nevada 

“You’re only thirty-six!” she exclaimed after some quick mental math on his birth date. 

“Yes?” he frowned, looking a little puzzled. “How old did you think I was?”

“Somewhere between 35 to 45?” she replied sheepishly. To be honest, she never really put a number to his age, but she assumed he was older given his job in First Order, even though he didn’t exactly look old. The contrary, really. “I’m turning twenty-seven at the end of next month,” Rey told him, thinking it’s only fair he knew. 

Ben seemed weirdly unsurprised. At the back of her mind, she wondered if she told him while she was drunk or if he simply inferred her age. 

She read over his text again to make sure she wasn’t missing anything when she noticed something interesting. “Wait, you were born in DC? What was your mother doing there? Isn’t she a venture capitalist?”

“She is, but she used to be a politician. I was born two hours after she was sworn into the House the first time, or at least that’s how the story goes.”

Rey had only met Leia a few times, once at a company all hands, as Resistance Lab’s majority shareholder, and three times at Han’s trial, as his wife. She could very easily imagine the solemn and dignified woman as a House Representative, but she had more trouble imagining her as a mother even though she knew for a fact she was one. “Why did she become a VC?”

His posture tensed and his eyes hardened minutely. “She ran for the senate and lost.”

There was obviously more to the story than what he shared, but he didn’t seem eager to elaborate. Rey left a mental note for herself to google Leia later and let the matter rest. Her curiosity could wait, for now, there were other more urgent matters to discuss, such as who they were going to get as witnesses and what the heck they were signing tonight.

* * *

> \---New Message---
> 
> **kyloren Today at 6:02pm**
> 
> Maybe I just like the supervillain aesthetic.
> 
> **coderray Today at 7:45pm**
> 
> Ha. The food there is good, I’ll give you that
> 
> Still wouldn’t work there in a million years though
> 
> I don’t think I told you the news yet but I might be able to stay in the U.S. after all!!
> 
> Everything is a little insane but can’t complain all considering
> 
> How are you doing? Any crazy new fires?
> 
> **kyloren Today at 10:52pm**
> 
> No fires.
> 
> But I was in meetings all day so I got nothing done, there’s a major code drop this week, and life has taken a weird turn to put it mildly. 
> 
> Don’t think I’ll be sleeping much in the foreseeable future, but maybe that’s just being alive.

* * *

**Day Seven**

> **Finn at 8:00am**
> 
> Mooorning Peanuts, good news, Rose, Poe, and I have all gotten approval for our vacation request for Thursday!!
> 
> **Rey at 8:10am**
> 
> Wait you guys are taking the full Thursday off? 
> 
> The civil ceremony will only takes like 15min, we will probably be in and out in an hour at most
> 
> **Finn at 8:12am**
> 
> Of course we are! You may be rushing this for the green card but you’re still getting married
> 
> We're going all out
> 
> **Rey at 8:13am**
> 
> I _really_ don’t have time to plan anything
> 
> **Finn at 8:14am**
> 
> Yeah don’t worry, we have a full day and night of festivities planned already 😉
> 
> You and Severus Snape just have to show up
> 
> **Rey at 8:14am**
> 
> … You realize people generally don’t go around planning other people’s wedding party without telling them first, right? 
> 
> **Finn at 8:15am**
> 
> Someone has to care and you don’t seem to care enough
> 
> **Rey at 8:15am**
> 
> I don’t even know if Ben took Thursday off
> 
> **Finn at 8:15am**
> 
> Don’t care, make him
> 
> Also, Poe is having a BBQ at his place tonight, bring Snape

* * *

The tuna nigiri was so fresh and delightful Rey sighed in bliss. “Seriously, how can you not order this?”

Ben took a bite of his pasta. “I don’t like sushi,” he said, shrugging.

“What? Everyone likes sushi!”

He wrinkled his nose. “Except anyone who read about the parasitic worms you can get from them.”

“Oh I know about those but I live dangerously,” she told him, as she picked up her salmon nigiri with her chopsticks, dipped it in soy sauce, and popped it in her mouth.

Ben dramatically moved back in his seat in disgust.

“I don’t have a dating profile, but if I do, I think ‘liking sushi’ would be pretty high up in what I look for in a date.”

“Hm, good thing we are not dating then,” he said, nodding at the white envelop with their newly acquired marriage license.

Rey huffed a laugh. A tilted smile tugged on his lips in response, as if he was pleased to make her laugh, and she couldn’t help but grin in return. It was fun, this bantering, Rey almost worried she liked it too much.

“Let’s get back to our cover story," she said, reminding herself of the original purpose of their lunch. "We met at the trial. You didn’t leave me a very good impression. How did we get together after that?”

Ben swirled his pappardelle on his fork thoughtfully. “I think we should stick as close to the truth as possible. Maybe we just keep it simple and say I found you at Blackthorn sloshed?”

Memories of the night flooded her mind. It’s been a few days but they were still so embarrassing, Rey groaned. “I’m never going live it down, am I?”

His lips twitched. “We all make questionable life choices sometimes. I helped FO sue my father and you got stupid drunk.”

Very funny, this man.

But the plan might just work. A knight in shining armor rescuing a hapless girl from a drunken mistake was a good story. It would make their getting together credible. She could even be vague on why she was drinking away her sorrow in the first place since this was supposed to happen a while ago. “Okay, fine, I guess you have a point. Let’s go with that, and just say it happened—”

She was interrupted by a loud ruckus behind Ben followed by a few creative swear words. She looked up to find a familiar ginger haired man recovering from what looked to be an unfortunate walk into a table. His food had half fallen off his plate and onto the tray and his glass had toppled over, its contents racing toward the edge of the table.

“What are you doing here and why are you eating?” Hux asked, a mix of shock and anger playing on his face. Whether from walking into the table or seeing Ben eating lunch, Rey wasn’t sure, although weirdly she wasn’t exactly surprised. She had never actually directly interacted with him before, but she had heard so much about him and seen enough pictures from Finn that she swore whatever he said just sounded like him.

“An unfortunate consequence of being human,” Ben deadpanned, watching as the spilled liquid reached the edge of the table. For a moment Rey thought he would offer the napkins beside him to Hux, but he simply took another bite of his pasta.

A second later the liquid dripped onto Hux’s expensive looking shoes. He swore and grabbed a handful of napkins from the closest dispenser and dried his shoes.

“You asshole, you saw that and didn’t say anything!” Hux growled when he straightened.

”I thought you knew,” Ben said and nonchalantly ate a piece of chicken.

Hux looked almost traumatized. “Since when do you eat real food for lunch?”

“You know perfectly well I sometimes eat—”

“During weekdays. You always drink that disgusting tasteless soy stuff.”

“I don’t—”

A group of young developers walked past them gesturing toward them and whispering to one another. They hurried away when Ben glared at them.

“See!” Hux waved his hand over to the group to make a point. “Even your team knows this is weird.”

In all honesty, Rey really didn’t understand why Ben eating lunch was such a big deal, but given all the commotion, she found herself feeling bad for being the one to suggest lunch to begin with. She shuffled a little in her seat and, hoping to appease, said: “He’s just here because I was hungry.”

Hux did a double take, as if he had just realized she was there. “Wait, who are you? Are you the diversity hire—”

“She’s my fiancée,” Ben said without missing a beat.

Rey was glad she wasn’t eating at the moment, because she knew she would have spit out her food from shock. Hux seemed equally flabbergasted.

“You look a lot less Russian than I expected,” Hux said after a long moment, staring a little too intensely at her.

Rey was at a loss on how to react to the comment. Did Ben have a thing for Russian girls, or was this some sort of weird racist insult, or…? She turned to Ben in confusion.

Ben gave a long begrudging sigh and leaned in to mutter in a low voice only she could hear, “Hux has it in his head I bought myself a mail order bride and I couldn’t be bothered to correct him. Apparently, he also thinks all mail order brides come from Russia.”

The dripping derision in his voice made her laugh. “And what exactly is a Russian woman supposed to look like? Russia is pretty big.”

He snorted. “Good question. For all I know he might be thinking of those old women in Babushkas of Chernobyl.”

“Oh, I think I heard about that documentary before. Is that—”

“No way—you and Solo—you two are together,” Hux breathed.

“Yes?” It was a strange conclusion to draw from their exchange about old Russian women, but it was also too wonderfully convenient for Rey to deny.

“You two are actually _together_ together,” Hux repeated, this time sounding scandalized, as if he couldn’t imagine a universe in which any one would actually like Ben Solo.

“Why wouldn’t we be?” she asked sharply, her own defensiveness surprising her. A week ago she might have even agreed with him.

“How long has this been going on?”

Rey glanced to Ben in panic when she remembered they hadn’t actually had a chance to agree on the timing of their fake relationship, but Ben calmly supplied: “Two years.”

“Two years? You never once mentioned having a girlfriend!”

“That’s because it’s none of your business,” Ben said with convincing disdain. “Also, don't you have a meeting with Snoke in five minutes?”

“Don’t remind me,” Hux grunted. Then, as if suddenly coming to a realization he straightened and glared at Ben. “Wait, are you doing all this throw me off my game so I would screw up in front of Snoke?”

“It wasn’t my intention, though if that’s what it’s doing...” Ben was clearly smirking behind his glass of water.

“Oh fuck you!” Hux threw up his arms and stomped away. He made it about ten feet before he returned. “The ceremony is still on Thursday at 1:00pm?”

“Yeah, you still coming?”

Rey raised an eyebrow. A little surprised by the fact Ben invited Hux at all, but then again, they did reminded her a little too much of a dysfunctional odd couple that had been suffering together for too long.

“I won’t dream of missing the chance to witness you make the biggest mistake of your life.”

Rey watched in morbid fascination as the two men rolled their respective eyes.

* * *

> **Rose at 3:15pm**
> 
> So what’s the dress code for Thursday?
> 
> **Rey at 3:20pm**
> 
> Wait is there a dress code for the civic center? 
> 
> **Rose at 3:20pm**
> 
> No, for your wedding! Like is there a wedding color? Semi formal? Cocktail attires? Smart casual? 
> 
> **Rey at 3:20pm**
> 
> Er, no ripped jeans or gym clothes? 
> 
> **Rose at 3:21pm**
> 
> No I am serious! What are you wearing?
> 
> **Rey at 3:21pm**
> 
> I am thinking that H&M sun dress I bought with you last year
> 
> **Rose at 3:21pm**
> 
> WHAT?
> 
> NO!! YOU CAN’T WEAR A H&M DRESS! IT’S YOUR WEDDING!!! 
> 
> I’m looking up rental options now. 
> 
> You’re going to wear something half decent on Thursday if it’s the last thing I do.
> 
> **Rose at 3:25pm**
> 
> Rent the Runway can deliver on Wednesday
> 
> I’m sending you links

* * *

Rey wondered if this was what it felt like to be a gorilla in a zoo: lured outside into the cold with food for the spectacle of others, constantly being watched by curious eyes at a safe distance, people whispering to one another only to occasionally say something to you (not with you) to get a reaction. At least she had an option to leave, and she would have if Poe’s smoke brisket and barbecue ribs and chicken weren’t as good as they were. 

Her friends were whispering heatedly to one another again, arguing about something, before simultaneously turning to Ben and her. It could only mean another one of their prying questions was coming. 

Finn proved her right a moment later. “Okay, after that night at the bar, which one of you asked the other out for a date first?” 

It wasn’t one of the questions they had prepared for during lunch. She was about to make up something on the fly when Ben glanced meaningfully at her. He had an answer, apparently, so she gestured for him to speak.

“She asked me out for an apology coffee,” Ben said. Rey had to admit he was stupidly good at this half-truth business. 

Poe wiggled his eyebrows suggestively. “Nice.”

“It was really just coffee!” Rey clarified urgently, feeling heat flashing in her cheeks. “I didn’t even think it was a date.”

“Yes! I knew it!” Rose punched the air in excitement. “She asked first but didn’t think it was date!” She high-fived Kaydel. “Pay up, boys!”

 _Great, now they are betting on us_ . Rey grimaced and shifted a little closer to Ben on the bench so they could talk better while her friends argued over whether Rose actually won the bet. “Sorry about dragging you into this,” she told him quietly. “They’re not usually this gossipy, I swear.”

“Fair dues for avoiding them for _two years_ , I think.”

Rey laughed, or she would have if she wasn’t sent shivering by a particularly cold gust. “Urgh, guys, can we move inside? It’s freezing.”

Her past self would probably laugh at her because 64 degrees Fahrenheit or about 17 degrees Celsius wasn’t empirically freezing. She used to wear shorts and t-shirts the moment the temperature raised above 15 degrees Celcius back in U.K. Now, even though she had hoodie and jeans on she was still cold. She liked to think it was something about San Francisco, but it was probably just a sign she was getting old.

“But it’s so nice out!” Poe protested.

“Just snuggle up with Solo if you’re cold,” Finn said, predictably siding with Poe. He was one of those crazy people who liked the sun so much he would go to Dolores Park on the weekend, just to sit there and drink, even during a windstorm.

“Oooh, yes, it’s very effective!” Rose chimed in unhelpfully, winking. “You should totally give it a try.”

“Leave them be guys, you are scaring them,” Kaydel said, Rey was about to thank her for intervening when she continued, “though seriously, if I didn’t know better, I’d have thought you two weren’t dating. You’ve been sitting like a mile apart this whole time.”

Rey froze at the observation. She had been so focused on keeping their fake backstory straight she had completely forgotten the part about acting like a couple. Not that they really had a solid plan on that front, beyond holding hands and maybe sharing food when appropriate. But now that her friends were all watching expectantly... She turned stiffly to face Ben, who was already looking at her. He didn’t look annoyed or mad, but his jaw was working, perhaps finally realizing just how much of a challenge faking a relationship really was and regretting ever agreeing to the insanity.

She was half expecting him to walk out and call it all off when he pulled off his sweater and placed it carefully on her shoulders.

“Oh,” she said her hand reflexively reaching up to the sweater. It was warm and soft and it smelled like him: lemon, sandalwood, and a touch of coffee. It was pleasant, too pleasant, maybe.

She vaguely registered the gasps and ooo’s of her friends in the background, but all she could focus on was Ben. “Won’t you be cold?”

“I’ll survive.”

 _He'll be cold_ , she could tell by the way he tensed in his t-shirt when another gust blew past them. Before she fully registered what she was doing, she was reaching gingerly for his hand and pulling at it until his arm was tucked beneath the sweater and on her waist. She held her breath as she tilted her head a little to gauge his reaction.

 _Is this okay?_ She tried to ask with her eyes, pulling his sweater tighter around her chest, _I’ve never done this before and I hope I’m not being creepy but you were so nice just now and I just thought you would be warmer_ —

A shadow of a smile, endearingly shy, formed on his lips and her heart skipped multiple beats as he adjusted his hand and pulled her a touch closer. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> \----------------jargons_and_technical_and_SF_stuff.txt----------------
> 
> Food in Tech Companies in Silicon Valley: Many big names in the Valley offers free or subsidized food in their on campus cafeteria. These are not the usual company cafeterias, they are big and they serve some very nice food. Each of the big names have their own system, Facebook and Dropbox are pretty famous for their good and free food. First Order’s system is a more subsidized version of the Apple system (Apple serves some very nice food at the cafe but it’s not free). Article on Facebook food: https://www.businessinsider.com/facebook-cafeteria-food-is-amazing-2015-2 Article on Dropbox food: https://www.cnbc.com/2018/06/27/dropboxs-cafeteria-and-coffee-bar-serve-up-some-of-the-best-food-in-s.html Article on Apple food: https://www.businessinsider.com/25-amazing-dishes-at-apple-headquarters-2014-10#caffe-macs-also-has-a-daily-pizza-special-like-this-one-thats-topped-with-prosciutto-olive-oil-fig-preserves-gorgonzola-and-green-onion-9
> 
> Mixt: A SF area salad joint. It’s a salad bar but they mix the salad for you. You are generally looking at $15 dollars salad before tax. http://www.mixt.com/
> 
> Marriage license: A marriage license is only a permit to get married and you are not married until a ceremony is performed by an authorized person. You need to get this first before you do your ceremony (civil or otherwise). If you buy the license in a county in California, it is valid anywhere in California for 90 days.
> 
> Getting married in SF: Want to get married in SF? You need an appointment for everything. Get your appointments here (just don’t leave it to the last minute like Rey and Ben): https://sfgov.org/countyclerk/marriage-general-information
> 
> Oakland: For those not familiar with Bay Area geography. Oakland is the area east of SF, across the San Francisco Bay. It’s kind of like SF’s version of Brooklyn, except it hasn’t gentrified quite as much yet. 
> 
> Buying a marriage license in Oakland: Each county dictates their own process when it comes to selling marriage license. Oakland doesn’t require an appointment. You just fill out an online form and wait at the Alameda County Clerk-Recorder's Office. https://www.acgov.org/auditor/clerk/ml.htm
> 
> Being Alive: Did kyloren make a sneaky reference to Company? Possibly. Ben Solo was semi-forced to see musicals, operas, and symphonies with Leia as a child and teenager as Han refused to go with her
> 
> Dolores Park: A very popular and iconic park in San Francisco. It’s a very popular spot for people to sit and hang out on the weekend. It has some very interesting regulars and packed whenever it’s sunny. That said, it takes a special type of people to go and sit there when it’s windy. https://sfrecpark.org/destination/mission-dolores-park/
> 
> \----------------Other Notes----------------  
> I published a little 4-parts young Ben fic with RFFA anthology. Third chapter is up. See here: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20616365/chapters/48951884
> 
> I can’t draw but I made some reylo clay figures: https://twitter.com/arcnlumi/status/1187888713960833024?s=20


	10. Day 8 (A Tale of An Old Blue Box)

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hello Everyone, I am back. Holiday season and TROS did a number on me, but I am now more determined than ever to finish this story and give Rey and Ben the happy ending they deserved.
> 
> P.S. Thank you to @lovingreylo (Peyton) and @Erulisse17 for betaing

> **From:** Lema Eelyak – leelyak@rrlaw.com
> 
> **Sent:** Wednesday, July 24, 2019 06:16 AM
> 
> **To:** Unkar, Rey <runkar@RESISTANCELABS.com>
> 
> **Cc:** Connix Kaydel <kconnix@RESISTANCELABS.com>
> 
> **Subject:** [EXT] Re: Situation Update
> 
> Hello Rey,
> 
> Thank you for the update. 
> 
> I can confirm that based on the fact that you entered the U.S. lawfully through your H-1B visa, you will be eligible to adjust your status to permanent resident once you marry an American citizen. As you have only overstayed your visa for 8 days currently and you plan to get married tomorrow, we recommend you remain in the U.S. after your marriage and have your husband immediately file a relative petition (I-130) and a adjustment of status (I-485) on your behalf.
> 
> You will NOT be able to return to work until you receive your employment authorization document (EAD) through the adjustment of status process or until you receive an approved extension of your H-1B visa. As such, to provide you with the earliest return to work date possible, we will continue the process to refile for your H-1B extension.
> 
> Important note: please refrain from any international travel until you receive your EAD with advance parole or until you receive a valid I-94 through an approved H1-B extension. You will not be able to re-enter the U.S. without those documents if you leave the country.
> 
> Kind regards,
> 
> **Lema Eelyak**
> 
> Senior Manager | Attorney at Law (New York)
> 
> Licensed Legal Consultant (U.S.)

* * *

Rey slowed to a halt as a long-necked bird gracefully landed on a rock a little way from the lake side path. It was a heron, based on what she remembered from the David Attenbourgh programs that occasionally played on the old TV in Plutt’s shop. The sun hung low in the blue sky, in the still, warm air there was the subtle smell of pine and summer flowers. Rey, already feeling particularly zen since she woke up—perhaps from the copious amount of ribs and chicken she had eaten the night before, perhaps from relief that the first awkward meeting between her friends and Ben went much more smoothly than she had dared hoped—took a slow deep breath and a full minute to enjoy the tranquility around her. For the first time since her visa fiasco began, she found herself feeling fully content and at ease.

Rey pulled out her phone, took a picture of the heron, and sent it to the group chat with Finn, Rose, and Poe, knowing they were all working, probably in windowless meeting rooms. She smirked a little as she typed:  _ Guess where I am _

Then, still feeling the need to share, she sent kyloren a message.

> \---New Message---
> 
> **coderray Today at 8:05am**
> 
> Helllllo! Happy Wednesday! Hope your morning is as great as mine!  
> 

She had always thought she could never be happy not working, but maybe, just maybe, she was starting to enjoy the perks of being on a temporary leave.

* * *

> **Rose at 9:33am**
> 
> Lady, you’re getting married tmr, how did you find time to go to Golden Gate Park for such a long jog today??
> 
> **Rey at 9:35am**
> 
> I just need a marriage license to get married. Ben and I already got that yesterday morning
> 
> **Rose at 9:35am**
> 
> How about your nails? Have you thought about your hair? Make up?
> 
> **Rey at 9:36am**
> 
> Pfft. My nails are perfectly fine. And I cut my hair just last month. And I think I have some foundation somewhere?
> 
> **Rose at 9:36am**
> 
> Urgh!!!! You are hopeless!  🤦 I’m coming over after work to test out makeup and hair style for tomorrow.
> 
> **Rey at 9:37am**
> 
> I really don’t think that’s necessary…
> 
> **Rose at 9:37am**
> 
> This is NOT up for negotiation  👿

* * *

Rey was drying her hair and singing “Delicate” at the top of her lungs when her phone rang. She frowned. She didn’t get calls often; since her friends mostly talked to her through chat and her coworkers through Slack. She considered ignoring the call, since it was most likely another annoying robo call telling her she somehow won a free night at some resort, but the off chance it was one of the immigration lawyers working her case made her reconsider.

She wrapped herself in her towel and scrambled out of her bathroom to find her phone. She picked up the call on its fourth ring without looking at the display. “Hello?”

“Rey.”

His voice was distant and tinny and she wasn’t expecting him to call, but she still instantly recognized his voice. “Ben.”

She couldn’t really imagine Ben Solo making social calls, and given the apparent giant deadline he had today, she was one-hundred and ten percent sure he was calling for a reason.

“Did you see my messages?” he asked, unapologetically to the point.

She didn’t. She pulled the phone from her ear and grimaced when she saw the new message notifications. She put Ben on speakerphone so she could navigate to Messenger. “Sorry. I went straight to the shower after I jogged, actually I was still—”

“Shit. I didn’t mean to—I’ll call back—”

He sounded so flustered Rey laughed out loud. “It’s fine, it’s fine!” she assured him, because he really did sound like he was about to die of embarrassment. “I was just drying my hair when you called. Let me read your messages now.”

> **Ben Solo at 10:37am**
> 
> Hey. I got this message from Phas:
> 
> **Ben Solo at 10:38am**
> 
> Benjamin, word of advice because I know just how romantic you are. Wedding rings are widely accepted as symbols of love and marriages. As such, I highly recommend rings for the photos and any future interviews. No need to give USCIS another reason to question the legitimacy of your marriage.
> 
> **Ben Solo at 10:43am**
> 
> Do you want to wear rings? 

“Do _you_ want to wear rings?” Rey asked back after she finished reading the messages. Phasma’s advice was valid, but it seemed rather unfair to ask Ben to wear a wedding ring for her visa’s sake.

“I don’t really care either way,” Ben said evenly. She could almost visualize his nonchalant shrug, which only exasperated her more.

“You really should care more.”

He ignored her comment. “Will it help you?”  


“No—I don’t know—I mean, Probably, but, that’s not the point. A wedding ring will repel most self-respecting girls. I know you said you don’t date, but what if the right lady comes along? You’ll miss your chance.”

Ben didn’t reply for a long minute. Rey was just about convinced she finally got through his thick skull when he replied much to her disbelief, “If it helps you, then I don’t mind.”

“Did you even hear the second half of what I just said?”

It was his turn to make an exasperated noise. “There’s no point in doing anything half-way. If we’re going to do this, we should do it right, and if that means wearing rings, then let’s wear them.”

She opened her mouth to argue, but no words came out. She couldn’t deny his point. All the efforts would be rendered meaningless if people doubted their marriage. “I’ll make this up to you.”

There was a commotion on the other end of the call, followed by Ben swearing under his breath, followed by sudden silence. When the call unmuted again, Ben sounded resigned. “So do you think you can pick up the rings today?”

“Yeah. Something simple is fine?”

“Yeah, just a plain 14k white gold band.”

By simple, Rey was thinking silver colored steel costume jewelry. Gold was so far removed from her mind that she took Ben’s words as a joke. She laughed, until Ben followed with, “I will Venmo you five-hundred dollars. Let me know if that’s not enough.”

“Wait, you were serious about the white gold?”

“I get rashes from anything below 14k,” Ben replied solemnly.

Rey gaped in dismay. “How would you even know that?” 

“I went through a earrings phase when I was young.”

As interesting as the idea of a young Ben wearing earnings was, Rey didn’t have any time to dwell on the information because from the other end, she could make out a muffled voice saying, “Stop talking to your girlfriend, we need you in the War Room like fifteen minutes ago.”

“Fuck off, Hux,” Ben said some distance from the phone. There was the thud of a door being slammed, then finally he picked up the phone again and said, “Sorry. Hux was being annoying. One of the knights broke the build.”

“Knights?”

“It’s just a dumb nickname for the team leads under me. We call them the Knights of—”

The aggressive knocking on the other end of the got louder, drowning out whatever he was about to say and nearly giving Rey a headache. “I think you should probably get going. I don’t want to keep you from Hux or waste anymore of your time.”

Ben let out a long-suffering sigh. “Yeah, I probably should get going.” 

There was a long, awkward pause, but just when Rey was about to say goodbye and end the call, he called, “Rey?” 

“Yes?”

“You’re never a waste of my time.” 

He hung up before she could react.

* * *

> **Poe at 11:15am**
> 
> How’s your day so far, bride to be?
> 
> **Rey at 11:17am**
> 
> Great!
> 
> I jogged, washed up, and now I’m heading to Yummy Yummy for pho
> 
> **Poe at 11:18am**
> 
> This early?
> 
> **Rey at 11:19am**
> 
> Yeah. I’m hungry. Why?
> 
> **Poe at 11:19am**
> 
> No reason. Just wanted to check up on my favorite developer

* * *

Although Rey would consider not dating someone because they didn’t like sushi, the real deal breaker would be if her date hated pho. 

The piping hot bowl of Vietnamese noodles was Rey’s favorite food in the whole wide world. She had her first bowl on the night she landed in the U.S., at the recommendation of her Uber driver. The flavorful broth, the fresh, thin-sliced beef, the warmth in her tummy with every spoonful, and to top it all off, the fact she could have a perfectly satisfying meal below ten dollars, made Rey fall in love. Since then, she visited pho restaurants at least twice a week. 

“Rey like the sun, you are here for lunch today!” Greeted the pho shop owner, who liked to add on weird mnemonic devices to his repeat customers’ names.

“Yup, not working today,” Rey replied. 

“The usual?” 

The thought of her usual order, extra large special beef pho, made her mouth watered. She nodded enthusiastically. “Please.” 

She pulled out her phone as she settled into her seat. A Discord alert popped on the screen just then. It was kyloren, finally replying to her message from earlier. She smiled as she opened the chat.

“Boyfriend?” The owner asked as he set down a glass and a pot of hot tea on the table.

Flushing slightly at the hypothesis, Rey shook her head and laughed it off. “What? No. Just an online friend.”

As the owner left to go check on her food, Rey couldn’t help remembering how Finn, Poe, and Rose all thought she was dating kyloren too. 

_ Why on earth does everyone think that?  _

* * *

> **kyloren Today at 11:50am**
> 
> You sound… happy.
> 
> **coderray Today at 11:51am**
> 
> I sure am! I had a great morning. I ran to the top of Strawberry Hill, and I got a confirmation from legal this morning that I’m clear to stay!!!!!!!!!!
> 
> **kyloren Today at 11:51am**
> 
> Congrats.
> 
> **coderray Today at 11:52am**
> 
> Thanks!!!! I still can’t work, but you know, one step at a time. I’m just glad I don’t have to leave
> 
> Anyway, how’s your day?
> 
> **kyloren Today at 11:53am**
> 
> Saw this shit in production earlier:  
>  static bool AreBooleansEqual(bool orig, bool val) {  
>  if (orig == val)  
>  return false;  
>  return true;  
>  }  
>  static bool CompareBooleans(bool orig, bool val) {  
>  return AreBooleansEqual(orig, val);  
>  }
> 
> **coderray Today at 11:55am**
> 
> Lol. Wow. Electrical engineer? Why????
> 
> **kylorren Today at 11:55am**
> 
> Your guess is as good as mine. Can’t change it. Not my team. But it’s making my eyes twitch
> 
> **coderray Today at 11:56am**
> 
> Totally understandable. Everything else okay?
> 
> **kylorren Today at 11:56am**
> 
> Nope. Fires everywhere.
> 
> **coderray Today at 11:57am**
> 
> Oh no! What happened?
> 
> **kyloren Today at 11:57am**
> 
> Murphy’s law. Testing team found a couple of P1 bugs yesterday. Might have been able to resolve them earlier but I had to take some time off yesterday to help a friend, so I’ll probably be in war room the whole day
> 
> **coderray Today at 11:58am**
> 
> Sorry man. That sucks! Wish I could help, but your friend is super lucky to have someone like you!!

“Kyloren is typing...” appeared at the bottom of the screen for a good minute, before disappearing and reappearing again a few seconds later. 

> **kyloren Today at 12:00pm**
> 
> Just finished lunch. Got to go back to work.

* * *

Rey was stepping out of Yummy Yummy after her extra-large bowl of pho when she saw Leia with her elegantly braided grey hair, dignified posture, tasteful designer dress suit standing on the sidewalk.

Their eyes met and Leia was the first to speak. “Good food?”

“It’s one of my favorites,” Rey said, a little stiffly. She liked Leia, but it was a little awkward talking to someone so elegant about soup noodles.

“I should try the food sometime.”

Rey nodded, though she had trouble picturing Leia eating there. Yummy Yummy served incredibly tasty food, but wasn’t exactly a classy joint, and definitely wasn’t a business lunch spot. In fact, there really wasn’t any reason why Leia should be there at all. “I know this area very well, so if you need directions to anywhere—”

Leia silenced her with a pointed smile. “I’m exactly where I’m supposed to be. I heard you were eating lunch here.”

Rey blinked. Poe’s earlier messages suddenly made sense. Her lunch plan obviously wasn’t a secret, but it suddenly occurred to her that maybe she should be more careful about what she said to him.

“There’s something I wanted to talk to you in person.” 

Rey wracked her brain but couldn’t figure out why Leia would go out of her way to find her. They didn’t directly work with each other, they didn’t regularly talk to each other, the only time they had really spoken on a personal level was about Han during Han’s trial… “Is Han—”

“Han is fine,” Leia told her quickly, waving a dismissive hand. “I’m here to talk about you.”

Her brows furrowed in confusion. “Me?”

“And my son.”

_ Oh. _ Rey felt her mouth went dry. It felt like the world has silenced around her as Leia stared at her with all knowing eyes.  _ What did she know? Did she know she had somehow roped her son into a crazy visa marriage scheme? _ She suddenly had a very strong desire for the ground to swallow her whole.

“Is it true that the two of you are getting married?”

“I—We—” At the back of her mind she always figured one day Leia and Han would probably find out, but she figured, given Ben’s broken relationship with them, that it would be one day much later, preferably after she got her green card and Ben wasn’t tied down by her anymore, something future Rey could laugh off with a shrug. “Ben and I—"

She couldn’t finish the sentence. There was something behind Leia’s eyes that didn’t look like joy. She looked sad, displeased. Was she mad about not being told about the wedding, or was she disappointed Ben was marrying her? Ben was still her son, after all, she must have wanted him to marry someone better than a girl that even the government didn’t think was good enough to keep in the country. She must have—

“I heard about your visa situation. I can only imagine how you feel, but you have the whole of Resistance Labs and me behind you, and we will do everything to get you a new visa, you have options.”

Rey nodded. She never doubted Resistance Labs’ support, but she stayed silent because there was obviously more Leia wanted to say.

A full fifteen seconds must have passed before Leia finally spoke. “Did he force you into this?”

“What?” The words noodled in her brain and it was a long moment before it even made any sense to her. Leia’s fear shocked her so much she was left stuttering. "Oh, no. He didn’t—”

“If Ben made you think he is your only choice and coerced you into something you—”

“It’s not like that,” she corrected her quickly. Ben didn’t force her to do anything. He didn’t take advantage of her when he could have, he generously gave her an option, set out the conditions, and she took his offer of her own accord.

But Leia didn’t seem fully convinced and Rey felt oddly… frustrated.

Rey didn’t understand why Ben sued his own father, still didn’t know why he distanced himself from his family, nor why he was working for an awful company like First Order. But she did know that while Ben was unsociable and abrasive, he was also weirdly earnest and in his own way… kind. He was a better person than most people gave him credit for. 

The fact that Leia, his own mother, believed that her son had forced someone to marry him like a monster felt… unmotherly.

Rey was fully aware of the irony that she had called him a monster just days earlier, and the fact that he hadn’t denied it. Maybe he even believed he was one. But he really wasn’t, at least not to her. If he was, she would have never agreed to marry him, no matter how desperate she was. 

“I’m marrying Ben because I want to.”

She looked at Leia in the eye, waiting for the contradiction, but Leia said nothing. Instead, she looked away, a heavy expression on her face.

“He’s good to me,” Rey added quietly, thinking about the ridiculous amount of trouble he went through for her so she could stay. “I don’t know why, but he is.”

Silence stretched between them, and feeling drained, Rey decided it was time for her to take leave. “I’ve got to go,” she told Leia as she backed away. When Leia didn’t seem to react, she spun on her heel and stepped away.

She almost made it to the intersection until the sound of her name made her pause.

She heard sharp clicks of high heels, followed by a shaky breath. Leia was suddenly in front of her, her hand outstretched, a blue satin box in her palm. “Take this.”

Rey picked up the box gingerly. A sharp breath left her mouth when she opened the box and saw the contents. Inside were a pair of rings. A thicker gold band with small dark blue gems forming a line in the middle obviously meant for a man, and a finer, art deco style, gold ring with an oval stone cut from the same type of blue gem surrounded by a ring of diamonds obviously meant for a woman. Rey knew very little about fine jewellery, but even she could tell they were incredibly old and expensive.

Rey closed the box quickly. “I can’t take these.”

A melancholy smile graced Leia’s face as she shook her head. “I used to have this silly fantasy of passing these on to Ben and my daughter in law.”

Rey felt her heart twist.  _ It’s not a fantasy _ , she wished she could tell her, but she couldn’t. 

_ This marriage is a sham _ . She needed to tell her, but she didn’t.

“You should tell your son that yourself,” she said in the end and pushed the box gently back into Leia’s hand. “These belong to Ben.”

* * *

> \---New Message---
> 
> **Coderray Today at 1:05pm**
> 
> I’m getting married tomorrow, did I tell you this?
> 
> I want this, but maybe not for the right reason, and it’s just...
> 
> Have you ever been in a situation where lying is actually the right thing to do?

Rey deleted all three messages a second later and went for another jog.

* * *

The second run was decidedly less pleasant than the first (the mid-day sun was too hot, her legs were already sore from her morning jog, and the park was almost chaotic with children on summer break and tourists) but it did clear Rey’s mind as intended, and she considered it a necessary evil. 

Feeling herself again, although much more tired, Rey was caught in an internal battle to tackle ring shopping or procrastinate and take a nap. Rey had never enjoyed shopping, even when it was to buy things she liked, and she was rather indifferent to expensive rings. In fact, her only knowledge of fine jewelry shops was the bad diamond commercials on the radio she heard during Uber rides. She knew they must exist, but she cared so little for them in the past she had never really noticed. 

Procrastinating by napping, therefore, was a remarkably enticing option.

“There you are.” 

Rey jumped. She looked up to find Rose in front of her home, giggling at her reaction. She had been so deep in her thoughts she didn’t notice her until then. “Why aren’t you at work?”

“I took a half day sick day.” 

Rey gave her friend a one over and confirmed she didn’t look sick at all. 

“What? I  _ am  _ sick,” Rose said matter-of-factly as she folded her arms across her chest. “Worried sick about how my best friend is going to embarrass herself at her own wedding.”

Rey rolled her eyes and moved forward to open the door. “I have always thought the bride gets to do whatever she wants on her day.” 

“Not when the bride is stupid enough to think about wearing a H&M dress to the wedding,” Rose said, stepping into Rey’s apartment without waiting for an invitation. 

“Hey! I’m not wearing that dress tomorrow anymore.”

“Only because I  _ rented  _ the perfect last minute rental dress for you,” Rose cried. “Speaking of which, where’s the package with the dress in it?”

The dress had been delivered to her door that morning, but Rey feigned ignorance because it amused her how much more Rose seemed to care. 

Rose swore as a look of panic crossed her face. She raced out of the apartment to look for the package, only to come back predictably empty handed a few minutes later. “Did someone steal the package? Tracking said it was already deliver — ”

She quieted when she saw the large blue box in Rey’s hands. “Is this it?” Rey said, trying to keep a straight face, but failing. 

“Oh my god, you are awful!” 

Rey only smiled. 

“And because of this, you are sitting still until I finish testing eight hair styles and all the lipsticks and eyeshadow colors in my makeup kit on you.” 

Rey’s smile faltered. 

* * *

> **Unknown at 6:45pm**
> 
> No idea if you are the right Rey Unkar, but assuming you are, you may want to come to The Treasury on Bush Street
> 
> **Unknown at 6:46pm**
> 
> The only other time I saw Solo drink this fast he ended up in a hospital for alcohol poisoning
> 
> **Rey at 6:48pm**
> 
> Sorry, who is this?
> 
> **Unknown at 6:51pm**
> 
> Armitage Hux, Executive Program Manager of AI, Machine Learning and Big Data at First Order
> 
> **Unknown at 6:52pm**
> 
> Solo got a box from some courier earlier and he’s been acting weird ever since
> 
> **Rey at 6:52pm**
> 
> Box?
> 
> **Unknown at 6:53pm**
> 
> Well it’s either that or he’s getting severe cold feet
> 
> **Rey at 6:54pm**
> 
> How do I know you’re not making shit up
> 
> **Unknown at 6:54pm**
> 
> I don’t care what you believe. But I don’t want my team down a man because of some stupid marital spat. If you don’t want him in the hospital, I’d get here soon.

* * *

Rey didn’t know what to expect when she arrived at The Treasury. 

The Treasury wasn’t really Rey’s scene. It had art deco details, green globe lights, granite tables, and a spanning classic bar with dozens of bottles of high-end liquor. She preferred a much more informal, low-key setting, and that, coupled with its location in the middle of the financial district, meant Rey only knew of its existence through Hux’s text messages. Fortunately, the texts arrived, about five minutes after Rose had left for her exercise class, sparing Rey from dealing with nosy questions she wouldn’t have been able to answer. 

The Treasury was reasonably busy for a Wednesday night. Rey scanned the room carefully. Hux was nowhere to be seen, but in the far corner of the bar, sitting with his back to the door was Ben, alone, hunched over in a stool that was a little too small for him, drinking what looked to be scotch. She edged toward him, only to freeze when she noticed the familiar blue box in his left hand. 

Oh.  _ That  _ box.

When she told Leia to give the rings to Ben, she imagined Leia handing the rings to him after a long heart-to-heart conversation at some point in the future, not to have it delivered by someone else, and definitely not today. What kind of mother couriered family heirlooms to her son? But then again, the son in question thought suing his own father was a good idea, so perhaps it all made sense in a dysfunctional, tragic sort of way for their family. She just didn’t get it.

She shook her head, got water from the bartender, and silently walked over to Ben. 

“Hey,” she greeted him when she sat down in the empty stool next to him. 

Ben looked up. He wasn’t quite crying, but his eyes were wet. She watched his Adam’s apple bob as a mix of disbelief and anger and maybe fear flashed across his face, before settling into something like annoyance. “Why are you here?” 

“Hux texted me.” 

He swore and emptied his glass with one swig. “He should mind his own damn business.”

Rey noted that he didn’t tell her to mind her own business. Maybe he had forgotten, or maybe it was a conscious omittance. Rey chose to believe the latter. She replaced his empty glass with a glass of water. “You need to stay hydrated.” 

Ben stared at the water for a long moment and laughed. “I said the same thing to you a few days ago.” 

It was a few days ago, but it felt like much longer. “You did, and now I’m returning the favor,” she said and pushed his hand with the water up toward his lips. “Drink.” 

He rolled his eyes but drank the water obediently. 

“Hux thought maybe you’re getting cold feet,” Rey broached cautiously. It seemed doubtful to her, but some things were better clearly confirmed. “If you are, we can still call it off.” 

“That’s just bullshit from Hux,” Ben said instantly, his voice surprisingly steady. “Don’t listen to him.”

“He also said, it may have something to do with a box,” Rey continued, purposefully eyeing the blue box in Ben’s hand. 

Ben followed her eyes and stayed pointedly silent. 

“If that box is upsetting you so much," Rey said with a loud sigh and started to reach for the box, "I can throw it away for you.” 

Predictably, Ben moved the box away from her. 

Rey held her hands up mock surrender. “Fine. Keep it, but stop moping.” 

“I am not moping.”

“You kind of are,” Rey said with a shrug, “You have been burning a hole in the box with your eyes and chugging scotch. If that’s not moping, I don’t know what is.”

Ben gave her a surly look, but Rey wasn’t deterred. “For the record, I am not marrying someone who mopes at an inanimate object. It’s kind of a deal-breaker.”

Ben made a sound that sounded like a combination of a snort and a laugh. “Is it?” 

“It is,” Rey said with a smirk. Ben’s lips tilted upwards as he took another sip of water. “Do you want to talk about it?” 

Ben sat his water down on the counter slowly and ran a hand through his hair, visibly thinking. “My mother sent this to me this afternoon,” he said eventually, pushing the blue box to her, then added with a bitter chuckle, “Or at least I assume it’s from my mother. There’s no note.” 

Rey opened the box even though she already knew what was inside. “Did you tell your mother about us?” she asked carefully, deciding it was probably not the time to tell him about her own encounter with Leia. 

“Of course not, but she has spies everywhere.” 

Rey decided to ignore his sarcasm. “Why do you think she sent you these?” 

Ben gestured his hands heatedly. “To remind me what grand inheritance I am missing out on? Or maybe she is just out to make me feel bad for not being able to be the son she wished I was? Or maybe she is mocking me with what-ifs? I don’t know. Take your pick.” 

His words were angry, but the gloom that shadowed his eyes suggested hurt more than anything else.

“Or maybe she still loves you and just wants you to wear your family’s rings,” Rey suggested. 

Ben sucked in a sharp breath and shook his head. “She can’t. Not after everything. It’s too late.” 

Rey opened her mouth to argue but thought better of it. Rey had always fantasized about having parents who loved her, about having a family, but Ben just seemed to deny his every chance he had. “Do you really think that?” 

He met her gaze squarely. “I do.”

Rey couldn’t understand, but she had a feeling Ben would push the questions on her if she pushed further, so she decided to let it go. She glanced at the rings again and pushed the box back to Ben. “So, what are you going to do with them?”

Ben stared at the rings for a long time, then, seemingly out of nowhere, “Have you bought the rings?” 

The topic change was so abrupt it took Rey a few seconds to understand what he was asking. “Oh. No, I was going to get them after I made sure you don’t die from alcohol poisoning.” 

Ben snorted indignantly. “I’m not that drunk.” 

“Not yet.” 

Ben conceded to her point with a shrug before his eyes landed on the rings again. He looked at them pensively, as if making a decision. 

“Maybe we should wear them.” 

Rey snapped her head around so fast, she nearly fell off her stool. “What?” 

“We need rings. These are rings.” 

Rey shook her head vehemently. “These are your family’s heirlooms.” 

Ben didn’t seem to understand her point. “They’re just old rings.”

“I can’t. It’s too much. You’re drunk and this is a bad idea.” 

“I am buzzed at most,” Ben huffed, unmoved, “They can either rot in the back of a safe or they can help make our marriage more real.”

“That’s —” 

Words died in her mouth when Ben grasped her hand and pulled it toward him. She was too surprised to do anything but watch as he gently adjusted his hold, and took out the smaller ring with the oval stone and little diamonds. Rey wondered if her heart would pound out of her chest as she watched Ben slipped the cold band down her ring finger. 

“It’s a little loose,” he said, lifting her hand to eye level and studying the fit. Her hand was so close to his face Rey could feel his breath on the back of her wrist. “We can resize it later.”

For a moment, Rey thought about how surprisingly nice the weight of the ring felt on her finger, almost like it belonged there. But the moment passed and she reminded herself why she was wearing the ring in the first place. “It’s fine. It fits well enough for pictures and interviews.” 

“True,” he agreed quietly, his eyes still on the ring on her finger. “It’s just for pictures and interviews.” 

She would never assume otherwise. “I’ll give you back the ring when I get my green card.” 

He let go of her hand. “Sure,” he said with a small smile, and as he looked up Rey was taken aback. 

_ Why does he look almost sad _ ? She found herself wondering, before noticing the pain in her chest. 

_ And why do I feel almost sad too? _

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> \----------------jargons_and_technical_and_SF_stuff.txt----------------
> 
> I-130 and I-485 and Why Rey Could Stay In The U.S.: These are the first forms that Ben’s lawyers (generally covered by large companies in Silicon Valley as part of their employee benefits) will have to complete for Rey. Form I-130 is a relative petition (of which one of the eligible relative types is spouse) and I-485 is an adjustment of status (this is the same form Rey’s lawyers would have had to fill out if she wanted to pursue a green card through H-1B). One of the prerequisite for adjustment of status is that the applicant entered the country legally. Since Rey entered the country through her original H-1B, her entry was legal. There are obvious risks to Rey overstaying her visa, but most of the consequences kick in after 60 days, this is why Rey’s lawyer viewed her staying in the country after her marriage as low risk as long as the adjustment of status forms are filled in for her right away.
> 
> Strawberry Hill: This is the little hill in the middle of Stow Lake in Golden Gate Park. Here’s some pictures and information of the place: https://goldengatepark.com/strawberry-hill.html
> 
> Broke the Build: Breaking the build generally refers to when a programmer pushes code with a major bug into the code repository, and because of that one extra change, if you pull all the code from the repository, the code no longer compiles/work. This is a major issue around major release time since the code have to all work together .
> 
> The Appallingly Bad Code Snippet kyloren Sent To coderray: First thing you need to know is that Booleans (type bool in C++) is just a binary variable - a true or a false. You can directly read the value and compare the value of boolean, as such, CompareBooleans function was completely unnecessary. To make matters worse, there’s a glaring logical error in the subfunction, so that when the two boolean are the same, it returns false, else it returns true. As Rey said after seeing this: Why?
> 
> Electrical Engineer: Many electrical engineers write head scratching C++ code (there are exceptions, so please don’t shoot me if you happen to be an electrical engineer who can write perfect code). There are many theories as to why (they are taught the wrong programming languages at school, they confuses electrical concepts with software concepts, they just aren’t that into programming, etc.), but for the purpose of this story, just know it’s a common stereotype and that is why Rey asked if the weird code snippet was written by an electrical engineer.
> 
> Kyloren’s Lunch: Yes, he had Soylent for lunch, that is why he finished lunch in 10 minutes while chatting with Rey the whole time.
> 
> Hux’s Job Title: Hux’s official job title is Program Manager Level 7. Since no one knows what that means or the fact Level 7 is actually a VP equivalent role, Hux makes up his own title “Executive Program Manager of AI, Machine Learning and Big Data” when he introduces himself to others. There’s so much buzz words in that title, Rey rolled her eyes when she read the message.
> 
> The Treasury: Bar in San Francisco Financial District that serves expensive and fancy cocktails. Rey described the decorations in the bar as art deco, but in fact it’s decorated in beaux arts style. She just doesn’t know enough to tell the two apart http://www.thetreasurysf.com/


	11. Day 9 (An Absurdly Unprepared Bride)

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> We finally got here, my dear readers. Thanks for all your support! Thank you to @lovingreylo (Peyton) and @Erulisse17 and for betaing, @LDucky20 for providing a couple of lines in this chapter, @taxila14 for a couple of beautiful moodboards, and artielu for all the details on getting married in City Hall.
> 
> P.S. I have re-edit chapter 1-4 for no big plot changes, but it's much cleaner now and I have fixed some details.

> **Ben Solo at 4:02am**
> 
> Hey. How are you getting to the Civic Center today?
> 
> **Rey at 8:25am**
> 
> Not sure. I might just share an Uber with Finn and Rose 
> 
> **Ben Solo at 8:33am:**
> 
> I can give you a ride.
> 
> **Rey at 8:35am**
> 
> Haha, I don’t think I can ride a motorcycle with what Rose rented for me. She’ll kill me if I rip that dress 
> 
> **Ben Solo at 8:35am**
> 
> I have a car.
> 
> **Rey at 8:36am**
> 
> Oh
> 
> **Ben Solo at 8:36am**
> 
> Bikes are impractical when it rains or when it’s too hot.
> 
> **Rey at 8:37am**
> 
> Okay, but aren’t I out of your way?
> 
> You don’t have to. I’m sure Finn and Rose won’t mind me hitching a ride with them
> 
> **Ben Solo at 8:40am**
> 
> It will be a quick detour.
> 
> Ceremony is at 1pm. Phas said we should leave some time for security and getting checked in. I’ll come pick you up at 11:30am.
> 
> **Ben Solo at 8:43am**
> 
> There’s enough room for them too

* * *

“Stop moving,” Rose hissed when Rey reflexively moved away from the eyeliner pen. 

“I can’t help it,” she whined. She hated it when anything got too close to her eyes. It reminded her of the dust flying in her face when she was scavenging through junkyards as a child. “We’ve been at this forever.”

“We’ll really be at this forever if you keep moving.”

“I hate makeup,” Rey grumbled, but tried her best to be still. 

“Look up,” Rose commanded before moving the eyeliner pen. “You’ll thank me later.”

“Doubtful.”

Rose didn’t bother hiding her eye roll. “Fine. Solo will thank me later.” 

_Would he?_ Rey really wasn’t sure what Ben liked, other than light roast Ethiopian coffee, Soylent, his motorcycle, and she supposed, the mystery project he wanted her to help with. For all she knew he also liked leggy, well endowed Russian girls with perfect makeup. 

_Would Ben actually like how she looked with makeup?_

She squashed the stray thought like a mosquito. He wouldn’t have an opinion one way or another, since he clearly wasn’t interested in her that way. “I don’t think he’ll care.”  
  
“Tilt your head down for me,” Rose said and moved on to draw on her top eyelids. “Also, don’t be stupid, of course he’ll care.” 

Rey almost told Rose she was being ridiculous, but caught herself when she remembered she was supposed to be in a secret relationship with Ben for two years. “I’m just nervous,” she said instead, remembering that was something brides in movies seem to say.

Rose cooed and rubbed her shoulder, confirming her movie-based hypothesis. “Paige was nervous when she got married too, it’s totally normal.” 

Rey shot her a tight smile. 

“Every bride gets nervous, and most of them have, like, a year to plan their big day. But don’t worry, everything will turn out fine.” 

“I hope so,” Rey said, though woefully reminded of how ill-prepared she was for _everything,_ she couldn’t muster any actual conviction. 

“Don’t worry,” Rose assured again, completely misinterpreting Rey’s uneasiness. “Kaydel and I made sure to veto anything too crazy. You two may be put on the spot a bit, but it won’t be anything too bad.” 

Rey nodded before she realized she had no idea what Rose was talking about. “Wait, what won't be too bad?” 

“The thing Finn and Poe planned—” Rose’s mouth formed into an “o” when she saw the expression on Rey’s face. “Oh my God, did you forget they were planning something?”

* * *

> **Ben Solo at 10:02am**
> 
> Hey, just saw the missed calls. 
> 
> Is this urgent?

Rey read the message and paced for a full minute before she attempted to answer. 

> **Rey at 10:08am**
> 
> Hey
> 
> Well, it’s
> 
> Not urgent exactly…
> 
> I mean I think maybe we should talk before we meet up?
> 
> But we don’t have to right this second if

The phone suddenly buzzed and rang, surprising her so much she fumbled the phone. She swore, scrambled to catch the phone before it hit the ground, and quickly picked up when she saw the caller ID. “Hi, Ben.”

“Is everything okay?” 

It felt like a trick question. Technically, everything was fine, Rose had gone home to change, her makeup and hair were done, her dress was pressed and waiting for her on her bed, but her brain was a jumbled mess and she could barely sit still for ten seconds. “Yes?”

“You don’t sound completely okay,” he commented after a short pause. He sounded genuinely worried, unexpectedly so. “Did something—“

“No,” she affirmed quickly, her pulse picked up as she spoke. “I’m fine. It’s just— You’re probably going to think this is stupid. And it’s totally fine if you don’t want to. I meant to tell you but I totally forgot—“

“Rey.”

She forced herself to take a deep inhale. “Do you have plans after the ceremony?”

“I don’t. Why?” He sounded puzzled.

“Finn and Poe might have taken it upon themselves to plan us something after the ceremony and they expect you to be there. I know you’re busy and you—”

“Okay.”

“Okay?” Rey repeated because she couldn’t believe her ears. “You’re fine with coming?”

Ben considered her words for a moment. “Should I not be? Isn’t it just food and drinks somewhere?” 

“I don’t know. I don’t think so,” Rey said and began pacing again, feeling like she might explode if she didn’t start moving, “Knowing them it’s something more involved. Rose mentioned she had to veto some of their crazier ideas and that is coming from a girl who made her brother-in-law and his groomsmen dress up in drag and sing Shape of My Heart and finish a mug of hot sauce, soy sauce, cola, and vinegar mixed together as a door game before she let him marry her sister.”

“You’re the worst saleswoman in the world,” Ben said when she paused for a breath. 

He sounded more amused than horrified and Rey was so taken aback she stopped in her tracks. “They’re going to put us on the spot and torture us for their amusement. I’m giving you an out, you know.”

“I know, but it would be suspicious if I don’t go,” Ben said, his voice so remarkably reasonable and soothing Rey felt her heart slow back to a more manageable rate. “Besides, this is good practice for the visa interviews.” 

A mental image of Finn, Rose, and Poe in TSA uniforms trying not to smile and completely failing popped into her head. “They would make terrible TSA agents.” 

“You've made them sound otherwise,” he deadpanned. “Point is, it could be worse.”

Ben wasn’t supposed to be so funny, calm, or helpful. After hearing all the stories about him from everyone, she really never thought he would be any of those things, but there he was, joking, making sensible and logical arguments in his low, comforting voice, talking her down from an almost panic-attack. 

“Right,” she agreed, smiling, “At least I don’t have a sadistic sister to block you from my front door.” 

“At least there’s that.”

* * *

It would be an understatement to say Rey was not a girly girl. Being overly feminine didn’t win her dinner when she was hungry, or help her fight bullies, or stop the assholes in her college and at work from mansplaining how she should write her code, so Rey never bothered with putting effort into makeup or cute clothes or high heels. She wondered if that’s why she almost didn’t recognize herself when she looked in the full length mirror next to her bed. 

Her brown hair, usually left unstyled or in a practical ponytail, was in a sophisticated braided bun, the makeup made her eyes look bigger and her cheeks sharp and defined, while the pearl necklace Rose lent her gave her an air of understated elegance. The cocktail length wedding dress, with its delicate ivory lace details and scalloped neckline hugged her body like a glove, accentuated her legs and gave her real curves. She actually looked beautiful, and it was so remarkable she found herself staring at her own reflection for a full minute. 

“See, didn’t I tell you it would all be worth it?” Rose said from her chair by the window, smirking. 

“You sure I don’t look weird?” 

Finn, on his way out of the bathroom, poked his head in with an admiring smile, “Are you crazy? You look hot, Peanut!” 

Rey returned his smile even though she felt Finn was grossly exaggerating. “It’s all Rose.” 

When a few seconds passed without a response from Rose, Rey glanced up and found her friend staring intently out the window. “What are you looking at?” 

“A Tesla Model S just pulled up,” Rose replied without shifting her gaze, “I’ve never seen one from the top down. The tinted glass roof looks super cool from here.”

“Model S? That’s the rich people's model, right?” Finn joined her at the window. “Wow, when it’s all black, that car looks positively villainous.”

Curious, Rey was about to walk over when she heard her phone buzz on the side table.

> **Ben Solo at 11:25am**
> 
> I’m outside. 
> 
> Are you ready or should I go find parking?

She rushed to the window to confirm her suspicion. Her jaw worked when she saw the black Tesla double parked just downstairs.

“Guys, I think that’s our ride.”

* * *

> **Rose at 11:32am**
> 
> Girl you kept THIS marvel of technology from me for over two years? 
> 
> 😒That is considered cruel and unusual 
> 
> **Finn at 11:33am**
> 
> I’m starting to understand why you are marrying Severus Snape 
> 
> **Rose at 11:34am**
> 
> Hey we established we shouldn’t call him that now that they are getting married
> 
> PS Can you get Solo to set the car to ludicrous mode?? I want to see how fast this car can go 
> 
> **Finn at 11:35am**
> 
> Relax I’m just calling him that on text. As long as Rey doesn’t show him her texts he will never know. You won’t right, peanut??? 🥺
> 
> **Rose at 11:35am**
> 
> Don’t answer him, Rey
> 
> **Finn at 11:36am**
> 
> My girl won’t betray me like that
> 
> **Rose at 11:36am**
> 
> She’ll be someone else’s girl soon
> 
> **Finn at 11:36am**
> 
> Will not
> 
> **Rose at 11:37am**
> 
> Will too
> 
> **Rey at 11:37am**
> 
> Omg, guys. Stop. If you have to text each other at least turn off your notification. Please. I beg of you. 
> 
> Also Finn, if you call Ben Severus Snape in his face, I will kill you
> 
> And Rose, if you want ludicrous mode use your words and ask Ben yourself like a normal human being

* * *

It was Rose’s idea to split up. 

She and Finn would go buy some food while Rey and Ben find parking. They would meet up at the City Hall lobby in twenty minutes. Rey was secretly relieved, not only because she had skipped breakfast, but because she could tell that Ben was irritated. She couldn’t blame him, having Finn and Rose text about them was somehow worse than being quizzed during Poe’s barbecue. Rey spent the whole ride alternating between fantasies of burying herself in a hole and throwing Finn and Rose’s phones out the window. 

“I am _so_ sorry,” Rey said miserably the moment Finn and Rose were out of the car. “I should have made them Uber.”

“It’s fine,” Ben said, but his grip on the wheel was still unnaturally tight and he wouldn’t look at her. 

Rey bit her lower lips, feeling awful. “They mostly just bicker, they didn’t say anything bad about you, I swear. But it was rude of them to text each other like—”

“They were texting each other about me?” 

She opened her mouth, closed it, and opened it again. “Didn’t you hear all the buzzing?”

Ben stared blankly at her. “I might have tuned it out.”

She suddenly felt incredibly stupid for worrying over nothing, then she realized something wasn’t adding up. They had reached the parking parkade and she barely managed to wait until Ben finished getting the ticket from the dispenser at the gate to ask, “Wait, if it’s not that then why are you so annoyed?” 

He scowled. “Annoyed?”

Rey waved her hands at him pointedly. “You look like you accidentally ate jellied eel or stepped in dog poop or something.”

“I wasn’t…” but he trailed off before he finished his sentence, as if he had suddenly realized something. For a fraction of a second, his eyes landed on her, then darted away again, as if he couldn’t stand what he was seeing. 

Rey took a deep breath, pushing down the feeling in her chest that too closely resembled hurt. A pregnant silence sat between them as they turned deeper into the parking lot. She distracted herself by looking for a free spot, but her mind instantly returned to the burning question the moment they were parked. “Did I offend you somehow?”

Ben turned off the engine. “No.” 

It didn’t sound like he was lying but he still had _that_ look on him. It didn’t make any sense. “Are you sure?”

“I’m not annoyed.”

“But you look annoyed—”

“I always look annoyed.”

“—And you still won’t meet my eyes—” 

“I think we should kiss.” 

Her ears must be playing tricks on her, since that was far more logical than the words that left Ben’s mouth. She turned to him abruptly. “What?” 

“To practice.” 

“Practice,” she repeated dumbly and realized she didn’t mishear him after all. 

“Your friends think we’ve been dating for two years, I don’t think—” It was hard to be sure under the dim light of the parking lot, and she might have imagined it, but it looked like Ben’s pale cheeks were slowly turning red. 

“—Nevermind,” He swallowed, she didn’t imagine that at least. “It's stupid.” 

Except it wasn’t, because she knew Poe, Rose, and Finn well enough to know they definitely expect them to kiss after the vow. It wasn’t that it never occurred to her, but they had been winging everything else so she figured that was just another thing they would figure out when it happened. It never occurred to her that practicing was an option, but now that Ben brought it up, she could see how that might be… beneficial. 

The first time she had kissed a boy—Tom, or maybe Tim?—it was a dare and she was thirteen or fourteen, it was little more than clumsily smashing her lips against his. The next time she kissed someone was at the end of a rather mediocre date, and there was so little chemistry she may as well had been making out with a teacup. The third and final time she kissed someone was at a drunken college party, and the only memory that lasted was the stench of cheap tequila on his breath. 

Her gaze lowered to Ben’s lips, pressed together so tightly they had turned white. She tried to picture the logistics of kissing him, how high she would have to tip-toe to reach his lips, where her hands should go, how her head should tilt to avoid hitting his nose, and found herself drawing blanks. She had no idea. Not even a clue.

Yup, practice was a good idea.

She wet her lower lip. “Actually, can we?” She clarified when she saw the half surprised and half confused expression on his face, “Practice, I mean.” 

“Okay.” 

She had hoped Ben would take the lead, but he was unmoving. She shifted in her seat. “So, what should we do next?” 

Ben hesitated. “I think we’ll be standing during the ceremony so maybe we should...” He waved toward the door.

“Right.” 

They pulled their seat belts off and made their way out of the car. She meant to meet him halfway, but his strides were longer and she couldn’t walk very fast in the heels Rose lent her, so Ben ended up meeting her on her side of the car instead. He stopped two feet away from her.

She had noted his suit when she got into the car, but she hadn’t processed the fact beyond that it was probably good she wasn’t wearing the H&M dress she had originally planned on. Now that he was standing in front of her, she finally appreciated just how well everything fit on his tall, broad frame. 

She wasn’t one to really notice people’s clothes, but something about the combination of the dark suit, white shirt, and skinny tie made him so unbelievably handsome, Rey couldn’t look away. Before she realized what was happening, she had taken a step closer and blurted out, “You look very nice.”

Ben looked down at her with an unreadable expression and Rey felt herself blushing scarlet. “I mean—”

“You too.” 

She wasn’t sure what he was talking about until she saw his eyes travel down her dress and quickly back up to her face. Rey felt warm, though not entirely because of the stagnant air of the underground parking lot. “Oh.”

“Your dress,” he added. For the first time today, he was meeting her eyes. “It suits you.”

It’s not fair, she thought, how much more unembarrassed and composed he seemed. “Thanks,” she said, wiping her sweaty palm down the white lace self-consciously. “Rose picked it. It’s a little too fancy for me, but it’s our wedding, so I thought—” She quieted when she realized she was blathering. “Anyway.”

They were supposed to be at the lobby in ten minutes, if they were going to practice they really needed to get started. “So,” her mouth was dry, “should we…?”

“How do you want to do this?” 

His voice was even but slightly strained with underlying tension. She suddenly realized he was not as relaxed as she initially assumed. Could he be feeling as lost as she was? But no, he was ten years older, so he must have more experience than she did. He was probably just being nice and letting her set the pace. 

Rey tried to remember how two human beings usually kiss. “I think maybe we need to be closer.”

He silently drifted nearer. 

At this distance, it was obvious how much shorter than him she was. The top of her head barely reached his mouth, and her eyes were at the level of his chest. She would have to go up on her tippy toes as high as she could, and push herself up by his shoulder, and tilt her head towards him.

She steeled her courage and did exactly that… and she still couldn’t reach. “Can you...” 

As if reading her mind, he bent down, and suddenly his lips were hovering centimeters from her, the pleasant scent of lemon and sandalwood filling her nostrils. For a second they stood frozen in place, too close and yet not close enough, then Rey reflexively closed her eyes and leaned in. 

It was a little awkward. She was a little unsteady and a bit too far back. Their noses bumped before they managed to adjust to a better angle, and finally their lips met. It was… nice. The world didn’t shatter and she didn’t forget where she was, but his lips were soft and warm and gentle. And despite it being a shallow, extended peck, she found herself missing the contact the moment they drew apart. 

His Adam’s apple raised and lowered. “Okay?” 

She nodded slowly and replayed the last ten seconds in her head. “Maybe steady me a little next time?”

Ben extended his right hand toward her, hovered long enough for her to move away, before settling it on her waist. “Like this?”

She leaned back a little and felt the assuring push of his long fingers through the back of her dress. “Yeah, that works.” 

She inched up on her toes and this time Ben simultaneously lowered his head to meet her half-way. Their noses slid past each other without colliding, their lips met at a much more natural angle. Ben’s hand shifted closer to the center of her back and he was pulling her minutely closer, deepening the kiss just enough. When they broke away, her heart beat faster than the chaste kiss justified.

They stared at each other for a long moment. 

“Better?” he asked quietly, his brown eyes studying her for a reaction. 

She was touched by how worried he looked. “Yeah. Better.”

* * *

> **Finn at 12:03pm**
> 
> Hey, food took longer than expected we’re heading over now but may be a bit late 
> 
> **Poe at 12:06pm**
> 
> Here
> 
> Where’s everyone? 
> 
> **Rose at 12:10pm**
> 
> We just got in the security line
> 
> Where should we meet up?
> 
> **Poe at 12:10pm**
> 
> I’m waiting on the left side near the security line with General Hugs and Solo’s “lawyer friend” 
> 
> Would really appreciate it if you guys can hurry up. FO ppls give me the creeps
> 
> **Rose at 12:10pm**
> 
> We’re stuck behind the slowest moving old lady ever, you may be on ur own for a while 
> 
> **Finn at 12:11pm**
> 
> Rey should be there by now. Do you see her?
> 
> **Poe at 12:11pm**
> 
> Negative 
> 
> **Rose at 12:13pm**
> 
> Where are you?
> 
> Nvm I see you
> 
> **Finn at 12:16pm**
> 
> Peanut, where are you? 
> 
> **Finn at 12:16pm**
> 
> Are u okay? Please respond.
> 
> **Rose at 12:17pm**
> 
> Chill, She’s just a few min late
> 
> **Finn at 12:17pm**
> 
> It doesn’t take 20min to park
> 
> What can take her so long?
> 
> **Poe at 12:18pm**
> 
> 😏 Rose, should you or should I inform our sweet summer child of what could occupy Rey’s time?
> 
> **Rose at 12:18pm**
> 
> I tried, but he won’t believe me 🙄
> 
> **Finn at 12:18pm**
> 
> Gross, guys, Rey’s not like that
> 
> **Rose at 12:19pm**
> 
> Just remember our bet when I’m proven right 
> 
> **Rey at 12:20pm**
> 
> Sorry guys. I’m almost there. Heels are killing me
> 
> PS stop betting on me
> 
> **Finn at 12:20pm**
> 
> Ha! Looks like u owe me bubble tea for the next month
> 
> **Poe at 12:23pm**
> 
> Sorry to burst your bubble, but it looks like you may owe Rose after all…
> 
> Don’t think Solo is a makeup man but there’s definitely some pink on his lips 😚

* * *

This must be what it felt like to float in a rowboat in the middle of the open ocean, or at least how Rey imagined it to feel like, given she had never been at sea. 

The onslaught of activities and conversations that all seemed to require her attention hit her the moment she stepped through the security line. Rey had passed by the City Hall building countless times before, marveling at the beautiful marbled exterior and gold accents during the day and the ever-changing lit up walls during the night, but she had never set foot inside. The interior, it turned out, was equally grand and beautiful with an abundance of natural light and impressive carved domes and stone columns. It was really too bad she had no time to appreciate it. 

Greetings, chatters, registration, food, touch-ups, photos, all came one after the other, relentless and overwhelming like waves. She quickly realized that resistance was futile, so she simply gave in and went with the flow.

“Solo, for fuck’s sake, look her in the eye and stop looking constipated,” Hux snapped from behind his overly expensive and complex looking camera.

Ben rolled his eyes, but obediently turned his head to her and relaxed his face enough to pass for tepid contentment. He had resisted more initially when Phasma announced Hux was their wedding photographer but the last ten minutes posing wore him down to weary resignation. 

Rey tried to shoot him a sympathetic smile without moving her head, she didn't want to be told to look down again. “Did you know he moonlighted as a wedding photographer?”

Ben shrugged. “He might have mentioned it a few times, but I’d forgotten until I saw his camera.”

“Do you really think he’s won awards?”

“Who knows,” he grumbled sarcastically. “Maybe there’s an award for the biggest asshole.”

Rey giggled out loud, in spite of herself.

The camera clicked in rapid succession before she realized what was happening. “Sorry, I know I wasn’t supposed to—” She stopped when she noticed that Hux was staring at the screen of his camera, unexpectedly pleased. 

“I’m overlooking the slander, Solo, only because that got me a good photo.”

Ben’s lips tilted into a needling sneer. “I stand by what I said.”

Hux huffed, “For your information—”

“Children,” Phasma interrupted with perfect condescension and impeccable timing, “Rose just texted to say the couple in front of you just started their ceremony. You’re up next.” 

She caught Ben’s eyes. “Final chance for you to back out,” she said in a voice low enough that only he could hear. 

“I don’t back out of something after I've made up my mind.”

“Even if it’s detrimental to your being?”

“Even then.” He smirked a little and Rey suddenly saw how he was really Han’s son. Her mind drifted to a memory of the Ben and Han standing in opposing sides in the courtroom and felt her heart squeeze.

“What?”

She shook her head and willed the memory away. “Nothing. Let’s go.”

* * *

The commissioner introduced herself as Maz. She was a short, old lady with round glasses, pensive eyes, and a benign smile. After reviewing their wedding license, collecting their rings, and confirming that the whole party was there, she told them to follow her to the rotunda. 

The rotunda was located at the top of the grand staircase that stretched from the middle of the lobby all the way to the upper floor. The hall was designed to focus everyone’s eyes on the staircase and with its gold and black iron railings, it almost looked like an aisle. It was easy to see why the rotunda was the City Hall’s most popular spot for civil ceremonies, and Rey would have undoubtedly been more grateful had it not meant walking up fifty steps in Rose’s heels. 

_Don’t trip, don’t trip, don’t trip_ , she chanted to herself as she made her way up the staircase, though every unsteady step only eroded her confidence. The further she went up the more she was sure she would catch her heels the wrong way and tumble down the staircase in the most dramatic and humiliating manner. It would doubtless hurt, and the couples and tourists at the bottom of the staircase would laugh, or worse, capture a slow motion video of her epic fail and post it on r/instant_regret and…

“Here.”

She blinked to find Ben holding his hand out to her a couple steps ahead. 

“Oh.” 

He must have circled back, because the last time she spied him from the corner of her eye, his long legs had carried him half way up the stairs. It was insanely considerate and nice of him to do that, especially since it meant he had bothered to look back to check on her. Her first instinct was to balk—she was never very good at accepting kindness—but then she remembered the very real prospect of falling and reconsidered. 

Her hand rose up and closed the space between them. As his fingers closed around hers, Rey noted how her hand almost looked childishly small against his. “You have bear paws for hands.” 

Ben glanced at her, mild amusement fluttering across his otherwise blank features. “So I was told by a drunkard a few days ago.” 

She gasped with mock offense and slapped his arm. 

“Ow.” 

The single word had no right to be as funny as it was. Rey shook from laughter and narrowly avoided twisting her ankle by grabbing onto his arm with her free hand for support. “Shit.” 

“Who knew it would be so hard to walk in shoes that don’t fit,” he said sardonically as he waited for her to regain her balance.

“Shut up,” she snapped without venom, secretly grateful at how much easier it was to walk when she had someone to lean on.

When they reached the top, Rey found herself nervous again. Maz was waiting for them in the center, underneath the hanging ornate lamp and everyone, along with a few curious onlookers on the third floor, was watching them. 

Maz waved them closer and gestured for them to turn to face each other before taking both of Rey’s hands and putting them into Ben’s. She stepped back, as if to study her handiwork, and grinned as she gave a pleased, satisfied nod. 

Then, straightening, she began, her voice surprisingly strong and clear, “We are gathered here today to witness the formal joining in the legal state of matrimony of Rey Unkar and Benjamin Bail Solo, according to the custom prevailing...”

Standing face to face, hand in hand, it was impossible to not study Ben’s face as Maz spoke. Rey found herself tracing the sharp, slightly asymmetrical curves of his chin and his aggravatingly perfect dark waves, before landing on his soft, dark eyes. He was breathtakingly handsome. It’s a mystery how she entirely missed the fact when she sat across from him for weeks at the trial. 

“... these witnesses, that if either of you know of any lawful impediment why you may not marry, you reveal it now.” 

Rey came to attention just in time to say she did not. 

“Are you ready to say your vows?” 

Rey nodded with Ben, though she didn’t feel particularly ready. Irrational anxiety rolled in her stomach and she was glad Ben would be the one to speak first. 

“Do you, Benjamin Bail Solo, promise to take Rey Unkar as your lawful wedded wife, in good times and in bad, in sickness and in health, do you promise to be true to her, to encourage her and inspire her—” _There’s nothing to get sappy about,_ Rey chided herself, but the lump in her throat materialized anyway, “—to laugh with her in times of happiness, and comfort her in times of sorrow, do you promise to grow with her in mind and spirit, and to respect and cherish her always?”

“I do,” Ben said, looking at her with his usual intensity, and for a microsecond, Rey wanted it to be real. 

Rey had always thought she had long grown out of the need to rely on others, but the thought of having someone who would share her joys and sorrows, who would be willing to stay with her despite everything, brought stabbing pain to her chest. A forever partner in life… she knew she couldn’t want it, that it was stupid to even imagine it, but her heart yearned for it anyway.

And then Maz reversed the names and repeated the question and it was her turn to speak. 

She swallowed, forcing out the words she couldn't mean, “I do.” 

Maz pulled out the blue ring box they had handed her. “I have here Ben’s and Rey’s wedding rings. For hundreds of years, lovers have exchanged rings as a token of their vows. Ben and Rey have chosen to exchange rings today as a symbol of their marriage, for today and tomorrow, and all the days to come.”

Maz opened the box, and Rey might have imagined it, but she thought there was a hint of recognition in her eyes. Behind her, she could hear a low whistle from Poe and a gasp from Rose as the rings were revealed. 

Ben let go of her right hand, took the ring with the oval sapphire out of the box, and slipped the ring onto her finger. 

The lump in her throat grew as the shape of what could have been, in a different universe where they really had the long, perfect courtship that Poe and Rose had dreamed up danced in her mind. In a universe where she would never be alone again. 

Rey shakily took the remaining ring out of the box and placed it onto him.

“Now that you have made your vows to each other in front of these witnesses and in my presence, by the authority invested in me by the state of California, I pronounce you ‘husband’ and ‘wife’.” Maz flashed them one final smile. 

“Mr. and Mrs. Solo, you may seal your vows with a kiss.”

It was bizarre and surreal to hear that last name being used to address her. It was equally odd to think they were only a kiss and a few signatures away from being legally married, however temporary their marriage may end up being. 

She stepped toward Ben as he reached out for her just as they had practiced, but unlike at the parking lot, his hand traveled up to her face instead of down to her waist. He ran a knuckle past the corner of her left eye. A wet trail followed it and Rey finally realized she was crying. 

Before she could figure out how to react, his hand had settled on her right cheek, the tips of his fingers cradling the back of her head. Rey reflexively leaned into it as he wiped away another falling tear from her face with his thumb. 

He stared at her, like he was a little lost, a little frightened. Then, he leaned in to kiss the hair above her temple. He was gentle, as if he was worried she may break. “Don’t cry,” he murmured before dropping his hand and shifting back. 

She shook her head and forced herself to smile because her voice was failing her and she didn’t want Ben to think she was regretting the marriage. _It’s not you,_ she hoped he understood, _It’s me being greedy and wishing that i could have all of this._

She was grateful their moment was interrupted by loud boos from Poe and Rose.

“That was a shit kiss,” Hux jeered from behind his camera.

Phasma joined in. “Kiss properly!”

Poe and Rose grinned maniacally at each other and simultaneously said—

“—Grab his butt!” 

“—Use your tongues!” 

Finn looked like he wasn’t sure whether to cover his eyes or wrinkle his nose in brotherly disgust. 

Rey laughed through her tears. It was so nice to be reminded exactly what she was so desperate to stay in the U.S. and why she was marrying Ben in the first place. Because against all odds, she had found a family here. A home. And she would do anything to stay.

She wiped her cheeks with a watery smile, lighter, more centered. She turned back to Ben. “Shall we?” 

They met each other mid-way. This time, the feeling of his lips felt familiar enough for her to savor their warmth. Feeling bold, Rey hooked her arm over his neck to press herself closer. After a moment's hesitation, Ben encircled her waist, pulled her up into him, and deepened the kiss. Not too much, and probably to Rose’s disappointment, no tongue, but… Rey had always been a little skeptical about the spark people talked about, always suspected it was a fictional concept created to sell books and peddle romantic cards and flowers. 

But as Ben held her close, the firm breadth of his chest contrasting with the soft hunger of his mouth, she suddenly thought that the spark might be real after all. A pleasant tingle fizzled down her spine to her toes, electricity danced across her skin, and her heart was pounding through her whole body, exciting and terrifying all at the same time. 

There were claps and cheers around them but she barely noticed. All she could focus on was how Ben was pulling back, too soon, or not soon enough, his breath uneven as he lowered her back onto the ground. 

They stood motionless for a moment, blinking at each other, as if neither could believe what had just happened. Impulsively, Rey twined her fingers with his and grinned at him. 

He squeezed her hand and smiled back widely enough to reveal his dimples, and for the second time in as many minutes, Rey found herself breathless.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> \----------------jargons_and_technical_and_SF_stuff.txt----------------
> 
> Rey's dress: Rey's dress is rented from Rent the Runway (https://www.renttherunway.com/). Rent the Runaway lets people rent pretty dresses for a few days at a reasonable price and it delivers right to your door the next day. The dress Rose found for Rey is the Marchesa Notte Ivory Lace Cocktail Sheath Dress. This dress is no longer available for rent at this time but it was available last year. See here for a few picture of the dress. https://arcnlumi.tumblr.com/post/190459965380/ivory-lace-cocktail-sheath-dress-reys-dress-in
> 
> Tesla S: Ben’s Tesla is a Model S Performance. It is solid black, with 21” sonic carbon twin turbine wheels, has an all black premium interior with carbon fiber decor, and self driving capabilities (available after software update later). Ben bought the car on his computer one rainy weekend on a whim for about $113k.
> 
> Wedding door games: In Chinese communities across Asia (in Programmer’s world Rose’s family is from Vietnam with Chinese heritage), wedding door games are challenges set up by the bridesmaids for the groom as a ceremonial demonstration of the groom's love for the bride. Here’s some example of “fun” games: https://brideandbreakfast.hk/2017/06/15/14-fun-chinese-door-games-for-the-groom-and-groomsmen/
> 
> City Hall: Beautiful building opened in 1915 during a Beaux-Arts monument to the City Beautiful movement that epitomized the high-minded American Renaissance of the 1880s to 1917. It’s a working building open to public. Lots of people get married there. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/San_Francisco_City_Hall. See here for additional pictures of people getting married at City Hall: http://emilytakesphotos.com/2017/10/how-to-get-married-at-san-francisco-city-hall-the-most-updated-and-comprehensive-guide-ever-2/
> 
> Rose's heels: Rose's heels are in fact 1/2 size too big for Rey. Rey didn’t own any white heels and wasn't willing to buy new ones for one day so she decided to risk her ankles instead.
> 
> r/instant_regret: A very popular sub-reddit of people doing something and instantly regretting it. The tag line is: "What have I done..." That should give you a good idea of what this subreddit is about. https://www.reddit.com/r/instant_regret/
> 
> Rey's Last Name: Despite what Maz said, it's still Unkar. She is not planning to legally take Solo as her last name because it's too much paper work and this is supposed to be just for the visa.
> 
> \----------------Other Notes----------------  
> If you want to follow me on twitter and get periodic updates: @arcnlumi


	12. Day 9 (A Long Overdued Nap)

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Surprise, I'm back with the longest chapter yet (8k+ words). The general state of the world killed my inspiration for a while, but I am back now.
> 
> P.S. Thank you to @lovingreylo (Peyton) and @Erulisse17 and for betaing and @AlienStarlight bouncing ideas with me

It started with a fortune cookie. 

Or, more precisely, it started with the fortune inside a fortune cookie she had just devoured. 

Or, even more precisely, it started with the fortune inside the fortune cookie Finn casually handed to her when Hux capped his camera and signaled that their post ceremony photo shoot was thankfully, finally over. 

The fortune cookie was golden brown and perfectly shaped. From the fresh, buttery smell, she knew right away it wasn’t one of those mass produced cookies they hand out at Panda Express, but one of those cookies from  _ that  _ shop hidden in a back alley in Chinatown where they still use mid-century machines to churn out the desserts by hand. She loved the cookies from that place. 

It was a little strange that Finn happened to have a stash of fortune cookies with him to hand out, but she only had a few bites of her lunch earlier before she was swept up by wedding madness, and she was too hungry to question him. She eagerly cracked the cookie in half, pulled out the small piece of paper, and stuffed the cookie into her mouth without another thought. It tasted as good as she expected. 

As she chewed, she absentmindedly looked at the fortune. It was always fun to read and laugh at the oddly worded, vague fortunes. She expected something like “success will be yours in the foreseeable future”, or one of her all time favorites, “hard words break no bones, fine words butter no parsnips”. What she actually got was: 

_ “You and Solo will go to a big tree overlooking the houses in the Full House opening.” _

Rey did a double take, but the words remained unchanged on her fortune. 

“Have you seen my jacket?” 

She looked up to find Ben searching the bench where he left his suit jacket for a photo a few minutes ago. She shifted her gaze to Poe and Finn standing behind him with matching diabolical grins. Then she looked back down at her fortune. Her eyes narrowed. 

“No way,” she muttered under her breath. 

Ben shot her a questioning look and she replied by mutely passing him the small slice of paper. 

A scowl grew as he read. “What... is this?”

She turned squarely toward Poe and Finn. “Did the two of you take his jacket?” 

The grins on Poe and Finn’s faces widened. 

“Don’t tell me this is all part of some idiotic scheme you two have planned.” 

* * *

What Poe and Finn had planned was, apparently, a scavenger hunt of sorts inspired by a marathon of The Amazing Race and one too many escape room team socials. They were supposed to follow the clues to different locations where they would be given additional hints and potentially a challenge that could earn them something to help them advance through the game. When they got to the final stop, they would get their phones and wallets back and there would be a “prize”. Exactly what the prize entailed Finn and Poe didn’t say, but Rey suspected it was probably not worth the effort. 

If there was one thing she learned from her weekly meetup at The Game Parlor with Poe and Finn, it was their love for stupidly elaborate games. A scavenger hunt planned by them could easily take hours. While Ben said he would suffer through for whatever party Poe and Finn planned, he didn’t sign up to waste the rest of his day with her. “What if we just file a police report on you thieves?” 

Poe smiled lazily. “Do you really want to spend hours at the police station on your wedding day?”

Not really, but she didn’t really want to spend hours playing a scavenger hunt either. It sounded really tiring. Actually, she was already tired. 

“Come on, Peanut, it will be fun,” Finn said. “Don’t be such a kill-joy.” 

He looked so excited about what he planned, Rey didn’t have the heart to say no outright. She glanced at Ben, hoping she was sufficiently conveying just how apologetic about what she was about to pull him into. “Fine.” 

Poe passed her a bag. She peeked inside to find her trainers, how generous of him. He grinned. “The game is afoot.” 

* * *

The obvious key words in the first clue was “Full House” which must be a show or a movie based on the word “opening.” Rey assumed It was probably an American classic, but she never watched it. Growing up, she rarely had the leisure to watch television, and even when she did, she was limited to whatever Plutt had settled on, which was either sport games or reality shows on BBC. If she had her phone with her she would be a search away from the answer, but alas. 

For a moment she glanced at Ben, but it occurred to her a person who never watched Harry Potter or Stranger Things probably didn’t know Full House either, so she looked around, hoping to find a passerby who may. 

She had narrowed down to the millennial jogging toward her and the college student taking photos of the Civic Center when Ben suddenly began walking away.

She moved to catch up with him. “Hey! Where are you going?”

Ben kindly slowed down enough so she didn’t have to awkwardly speed walk to match his long strides. “Alamo Square.”

“Alamo… Wait, the Painted Ladies are the houses in the  _ Full House _ opening?”

Ben paused and glanced down at her, clearly taken aback. “Aren’t they?”

“I wouldn’t know. I’ve never seen an episode of  _ Full House _ before. I’m just surprised, you don’t seem to be a popular culture kind of person.”

Ben shrugged. “It’s a sitcom from the 90s. I saw bits of it here and there when my classmates watched it after dinner.”

Rey wondered if he meant during a sleepover. She had never been to one when she was young, but she was always secretly envious when she heard the more well-to-do kids talk about the sleepovers they had at each other's homes. “You make it sound like you didn’t have any say in that.” 

“I didn’t. There was only one TV in the common area in the dorm and we took turns deciding what we got to watch.” 

Rey suddenly felt a little silly for imagining grade school sleepover. By the end of the 90s, Ben would have been like seventeen. “You were in college!” 

Ben rolled his eyes. “I was like twelve when the show ended.” 

“Oh,” Rey considered his words and raised an eyebrow. “So you are talking about summer camp dorms or something?” 

“My parents sent me away to boarding school when I was ten,” he explained. He was walking again, and Rey couldn’t see his face, but she heard the same bitterness in his voice as the other night when he brooded about his family’s rings. 

To be fair, ten sounded… young, but still, Han and Leia must have had their reasons. “Was it a super elite school for the gifted or something?”

“It was just a place rich parents abandoned their kids,” Ben said dryly with a wave. “I didn’t help my mother’s reputation and I didn’t fit my father’s lifestyle, so they sent me away.”

“Don’t say that,” Rey said before she could stop herself. They had been barely married for an hour and she really didn’t want to start an argument over their deep rooted mummy and daddy issues, but it just pained her too much to hear him speak of his parents like this. 

Ben abruptly stopped and turned toward her. “Why not?” He demanded. “Why shouldn't I say the truth?” 

She threw her arms up in frustration. Leia, in her own repressed, poorly communicated ways, obviously cared and Han… the few times he talked of his son in the year they worked together, it was always with such wistful fondness that always made her heart squeeze. She could only wish her own parents cared for her half as much as Han did for him. “Han loved you, he gave a damn about you. Why...” 

Ben took a step toward her. Not exactly menacing, but his eyes were narrowed as he asked in a low voice, “Why what? Say it.”

Rey bit the inside of her cheek. Continuing the conversation was probably a terrible idea, but she knew the question about Han was going to come out one day or another. If they were destined to fight over it, they might as well do this now versus later when she needed him to play nice for her visa. “Why do you hate him?” 

Ben took a sharp breath. “I  _ don’t  _ hate him.” 

The space between them suddenly felt so cold and distant. Rey could only shake her head. “Then why did you go out of your way to ruin his life? I don’t get it.” 

“No? Didn’t your parents throw you out like garbage when you were six?”

Rey silently cursed at his good memory, and had to stop herself from flinching and giving him the satisfaction of seeing her react further to the blunt question. “It’s not the same.” 

“It is,” he said, his voice didn’t rise, but his eyes caught hers in a way that didn’t allow her to look away. “We were both thrown out like garbage. The only difference is that you keep needing them. You look for them in others, in  _ my  _ father and mother.” 

His words burned like acid. She stood her ground and crossed her arms. “Right, you don’t need your parents at all,” she said sarcastically, her temper sharpening her words. “Oh no, you just get triggered every time you’re reminded of them because you keep wondering what was so wrong with you that your perfectly rational and good parents would replace you with—” She stopped short, but it was too late. 

Just like that night when they met again, Ben Solo recoiled like she had struck him. Rey watched his face contort, his hands clenching and unclenching. He was silent, too silent, and she felt her throat tighten. She didn’t know why, she swore she was generally a nice person, but she always seemed to say the meanest things when she was around Ben. 

“That was…” she trailed off when he pointedly turned away. “Ben, I didn’t m—” 

“You did,” Ben cut in, glaring at her direction but not quite at her and began walking. For a moment Rey wondered if he would turn around and march back to the City Hall for divorce papers, but he continued toward the direction of Alamo Square, and Rey hurried after him. 

* * *

A bus must have dropped off a herd of tourists just before they arrived, because Alamo Square was packed with people taking selfies in front of the iconic pastel colored Victorian houses. Rey passed by them without a second look and went straight to the large tree standing half way up the grassy hill overlooking the famous houses. 

“I think that’s it.”

An awkward distance away, Ben glanced at the yellow envelope she had just picked up at the bottom of a tree trunk and said nothing. 

Rey opened the envelope and reached inside. It was more empty than she expected, and she finally dug out a map of San Francisco and a paper origami crane from the bottom. 

“That’s it?” she asked out loud. 

Rey tried her best to ignore Ben’s sullen shrug and studied the crane more closely. It was folded in the usual way, made of colored origami paper with pagoda prints, and… there were faint lines on the paper, as if someone wrote with a ballpoint pen on the other side. She stuffed the map back into the envelope to free her hand and unfolded the crane. As she had suspected, on the back side of the paper was a note in Finn’s messy script. She snorted. 

“It just said we can walk to the next spot in less than twenty minutes. Not very useful right?”

Silence. 

She looked up. Ben was still standing where he was not quite looking at her. She tried again. “We don’t have a lot to go on, but given the origami, do you think it’s something Japan related?”

Silence. 

Rey chewed her lower lips in frustration. Keeping quiet while they each cooled down during their ten minutes walk to Alamo Square was one thing, but an indefinite silent treatment was just petty. Enough was enough. “You don’t have to stay and play through this charade with me. I’ll find a way to get your wallet and phone back from Finn and Poe.” 

He didn’t even acknowledge that he had heard her. 

An unbearable wave of irritation washed over her and she felt the tension that had been inside of her the whole time snapping. “I said too much earlier, but you did too, you know. I am not going to beg for forgiveness.” 

Ben’s lips thinned to a line and said nothing.

Rey gave a long sigh. “If you have to yell at me, yell at me now and get it over with.” 

Ben finally,  _ finally _ , spoke, “Why would I do that?” 

“I don’t know? Because you’re obviously angry at me?” Rey exclaimed, exasperated. 

The creases in Ben’s forehead deepend. “What makes you think that?” 

Rey shot him a look of disbelief and gestured at the air between them. “You’ve been giving me silent treatment for the last twenty minutes.”

Ben opened his mouth and closed it before he said anything. 

“Fine, keep ignoring me.” 

“That’s not—” Ben grimaced as his hand reached up to his dark waves, “I just don’t want to fight.” 

It wasn’t the response she expected. Not just because ‘restrained’ wasn’t an adjective people used to describe Ben Solo, but also because backing down from a fight wasn’t really in her nature. Either way, the answer didn’t sit well with her. “I don’t see how stewing over our feelings in resentful silence helps anything.”

“And I don’t see how fighting about a topic that obviously triggers both of us accomplishes anything either,” Ben returned flatly. 

Rey looked away and huffed, hating how she knew he was wrong but couldn’t entirely articulate the flaw in his logic. “Well if—”

“Do you think this is a clue?” 

He was blatantly cutting her off, and Rey’s irritation would have grown even more had her mind not been completely distracted by the scent of sandalwood. She was suddenly aware of how close Ben was. He must have moved when she had looked away, because he was now barely a foot away, and a stray memory of their kiss earlier suddenly resurfaced. 

_ Stop it. _ She silently hissed at her traitorous brain.  _ That was just out of necessity.  _

_ Oh was it?  _ Her brain spoke back.  __

_ Shut up.  _ She felt both a flush rising up her neck and the overwhelming desire to hide in hole. 

“Well?” Ben asked, glancing down expectantly, seemingly unaffected by their proximity.

Rey forced herself to focus and followed his eyes down to the unfolded crane in her hand. 

She must have looked confused, because he spoke up again. “This,” he said, his finger closed in to tap at a spot on the origami paper, specifically at the printed pattern, the cherry blossoms and… pagodas.  _ Pagodas _ . A realization hit her. It was so obvious, how did she miss this? “I only know one pagoda that’s walkable from here.” 

Rey and Ben turned to each other at the same time. “Japantown.” 

* * *

“What do you mean—” 

Ben looked back, noticed she had fallen behind again, and stopped. 

She hurried as fast as she could in her tight rented dress, not willing to make too wide of a step in case she ripped the fine lace. “Sorry,” 

“It’s fine,” he said, and while there was nothing on his face or in his tone that suggested annoyance, she thought he must be at least a little exasperated inside. It was the seventh or eighth time he had to stop for her already. He waited until she was beside him before he started walking again, slowing his stride. 

Rey felt another wave of dissonance because it was so nice of him, gentlemanly even. The atmosphere between them was day and night to the suffocating tension from fifteen minutes ago. It made her question if Ben was right to pause their fight. It made her ask why she pushed for a fight in the first place.

“You were asking a question?” 

Ben’s voice brought her out of her reverie, and it took her a moment to remember her original thought. “Oh, I was going to ask why you hate Slack.” She wasn’t sure how they had gotten to the subject, but one conversation led to another once Ben started making an effort to speak again and that had been where they landed. 

“Because it sucks.” 

“I forgot, you hate everything,” she replied, not hiding her sarcasm. 

He rather endearingly disgruntled frown appeared at her assessment. “No, it’s just a stupid app.” 

He was making it so easy. Rey couldn’t help but smirk, turning to walk backwards just so she could see his reaction better. “Said the  _ old man  _ who is too uncool to keep up with the times.”

She arched a brow when Ben looked indignant. “What? You sound just like Rose’s parents when they tell her they can’t use Whatsapp because it’s too complicated.” 

Ben rolled his eyes. “That’s different. Slack is an unnecessary information overload and gives you way too many notifications. I don’t get why people aren’t sticking to email.”

“It’s miles better at organizing information than email. Just admit you are too old for changes, _old man_.” 

There was a hint of amusement beneath his scoff.

* * *

“I was starting to think you guys weren’t coming,” said a familiar voice when they had finally arrived at the plaza with the concrete pagoda. 

Rey spun around, finding herself face to face with a visibly impatient Rose. “Blame Finn and Poe,” she grumbled. “They planned the route. We came as fast as we could.”

Beside her, Ben grunted. 

“What?” 

“Just remembering how someone walked slower than a snail,” Ben said mildly. Rey had a distinct feeling he was getting her back for her ‘old’ comment. 

“Not everyone has freakishly long legs like you.” 

Ben looked unimpressed. “You have sneakers.” 

“Yeah but I also have a ridiculous dress—”

“Guys, we have to get started with the challenge,” Rose interrupted. “As Poe and Finn explained earlier, there are optional challenges that you can choose to accept to gain bonuses to help you get to your next destination. If you finish my challenge, I’ll call you an Uber.” 

Rey instantly perked up. It was close to eighty five degrees and a ride in an air conditioned car sounded amazing. “What’s the challenge?”

“It’s nothing elaborate. I’ll ask ten questions about Rey and Ben will have to answer them. All about things you should know about your  _ wife _ . Easy-peasy.” 

Easy-peasy. Maybe if they had actually been dating for two years, but given the actual reality Rey doubted Ben would get very far. Maybe it was better to save them from humiliation and just skip the challenge all together. 

Ben was apparently on the same page because before she could say anything, he asked, “If we don’t accept the challenge, then we’ll just have to walk to the next stop, right?” 

“Correct and here’s the next clue in case you want to do that,” Rose said before passing him an index card. 

Ben read the card and passed it to Rey. The card read: ‘This parking lot is on the road named after the city where Rey was born’

Rey gestured at Ben for a quick huddle by a large rock so they could look at their map. 

“Birmingham, right?” Ben asked once the map was spread out in front of them. 

“Er, yes?” she stumbled, surprised. She didn’t remember mentioning Birmingham to him. “How did you know?”

“You—” he broke off abruptly and looked away, a moment later he said, “It was on the marriage license.” 

“Oh.” His words made perfect sense, but Rey found herself absentmindedly wondering what he was originally going to say as she searched for Birmingham Street. 

Ben beat her to it and pointed at a spot near the Presidio. 

“Shit, that’s at least 45 minutes away.”

Ben eyed the map thoughtfully and turned back to Rose. “Do we automatically fail the challenge if we get the question wrong?” 

“Good question, there is in fact a way to make up for wrong answers,” Rose replied in a sing-song-voice. “All I ask are thirty proper—on our toes, forty-five degree bent, half ass shit don’t count—push ups for each wrong question since I’m feeling especially nice today. You can split them however you like, but there must be thirty perfect push-ups total.” 

Alarm bells instantly rang in Rey’s head. Rose used to teach at Barry’s Bootcamp during college, her standards for a proper push up was ridiculously high. Thirty push ups per question could turn into three hundred if they got them all wrong. But she was reasonably fit, and if she split them with Ben she’d only have to do fifteen push-ups for every wrong question. She turned to Ben, who shrugged. 

She made the executive decision. “Let’s get this over with.” 

“Excellent,” Rose replied, the glint in her eyes distinctly reminded Rey of a cartoon fox plotting how to break into a chicken coop. “First step, walk across the plaza.” 

Rey only managed to take two steps before Rose grabbed her arm. “You stay here with me. I will ask the questions here.  _ He  _ will yell his answers over there.”

It was midday on a warm, sunny Thursday afternoon, so while the plaza wasn’t packed, it was still filled with bored teenagers and old people out on their daily stroll. Apparently, seeing two people in wedding-ish clothes playing something that resembled a game was enough to draw an unwanted crowd. 

Ben was a full thirty feet away when Rose asked the first question. “We will start off with a couple of easy warmup questions. Question one: Rey will eat basically everything except for this. What is it?” 

“Jellied eel.” 

She knew she mentioned that foul dish at the pub, so it made sense he knew, but she was surprised by the speed and certainty of his answer. She wondered if he just had a good memory or if her drunken ramblings just made that big of an impression. 

“You got it. Second question: What is Rey’s favorite book?” 

This time, he sounded less confident. “ _ Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy _ ?” 

_ Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy  _ had been Rey’s favorite since she found a copy on the street when she was twelve. She had no idea how he knew, but she reminded herself in time to not look too amazed. “Two out of two,” she announced with false bravado. 

“Those are the warm ups,” Rose told them as she glanced at her phone for the next question. A suspiciously gleeful grin suddenly appeared on her lips. “Oh, this is a good one: What is the one thing that makes you love Rey?” 

Rey tensed. They never practiced that question and she didn’t know what to expect. Was he going to tell an unconvincing lie like ‘her beauty’, or say something embarrassingly cliche like ‘her good heart’, or—

“She’s a good programmer.”

It was so unromantic but so... Ben, that Rey burst out in laughter. It wasn’t even a lie, she was going to code for him in exchange for his help, after all. She was almost ashamed of herself for not anticipating his answer.

Rose was, unfortunately, less amused. “There are thousands of good programmers in San Francisco, are you saying you could have married any of them?” 

Ben finally looked a little flustered. “She is...” he paused, as if trying to figure out how to finish his sentence, “Just that good.” 

Her face felt hot. “I’m not  _ that  _ good,” she said before she could stop herself. 

“You are.”   


“I’m not,” she insisted. It wasn’t just modesty, she just knew the praise was unearned given how many incredibly smart programmers Ben must work with on a daily basis. 

He only looked earnestly back at her. “Your Bloom filter implementation was excellent.” 

Rey was taken aback. She had spent an embarrassing amount of time thinking about Bloom filters when she was arguing with kyloren over on Discord, but Ben wouldn’t have known that. She tried to remember if she implemented any Bloom filters for Han, she could have, but it was so long ago she wasn’t sure. “Are you—”

“Sorry to interrupt your foreplay,” Rose cut in breezily, causing Rey’s face to redden at the suggestion. She stole a glance toward Ben, hoping he didn’t hear somehow, but luck, as usual, wasn’t on her side, and she could tell by the way his eyes widened a bit and the tips of his ears turned pink, that he had heard exactly what Rose just said. 

Fortunately, before she could consider why, Ben suddenly spoke. “Can I just do the pushups instead of answering the remainder of the questions?”

Rose was obviously taken aback. “You want to do push ups before hearing the questions? There’re still seven questions left. That’s two hundred and ten push ups.”

Ben didn’t even blink at the number. “These questions are taking too long,” he said and began unbuttoning his cuffs and rolling up his sleeves. There was a hint of irritation in his voice. He must have found the questions tedious and annoying. He signed his name on the paper to marry her, he didn’t sign the papers to deal with her friends. She needed to help him out.

“I’ll do some of his push ups.”

Ben shook his head. “You’re wearing a dress.”

His consideration surprised her a little. It would be awkward to do push ups in her dress, but as long as she was careful, she probably wouldn’t rip anything. “I’ll be fine. It’s too many push ups for one person.”

“I can do them,” he said curtly. 

Rey rolled her eyes. It wasn’t really the time for fragile male ego. “Don’t be—”

But Rose stopped her with a hand on her forearm and a predatory grin. “If he wants to do all of the push ups by himself, let him.”

* * *

“Can you turn the air conditioning up?” 

It was the third time Ben made the request, so Rey wasn’t surprised exactly when the Uber driver apologized and told him it’s already on max.

Rey watched as Ben slumped back onto his seat, visibly dejected. 

_ That’s what you get for proving you’re a macho man _ , she thought. Though to be fair, Ben was fitter than she gave him credit for. He struggled toward the end, but he finished all two hundred and ten push ups with just two breaks. Even Rose gave a low whistle when he finished the last one, impressed. 

His hair was a little damp and though he wasn’t dripping, there was still sweat on his face. It was odd actually, since Rey was usually rather grossed out by sweat, which was why she never joined Rose for hot yoga, but even though Ben was sweaty, she didn’t find him gross, or even smelly. It was honestly kind of… 

“What?” 

Rey felt heat rising up her neck again and quickly shook her head. “You’ve got sweat on your forehead,” she said, using the first excuse that came to mind. 

He ran his hand across his face and made a half peeved, half grumpy expression. “I’m hot.” 

_ And shredded _ , her mind unhelpfully chimed in, sending her images of the half naked Ben from the morning she woke up hungover at his place. 

If Rey had been alone, she would have commanded her inner voice to shut the fuck up and possibly punch the seat to ease her embarrassment, but she wasn’t, so she could only bite the inside of her cheek and chase the weird thought away with a question that had been at the back of her mind for a while. “By the way, how did you know my favorite book is the  _ Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy?” _

“I don’t,” a satisfied smile crept on his face. “But when you were drunk you went on about the proof of non-existence of God. I vaguely remember there was something about that in the book and took a wild guess.” 

* * *

There was nothing except for a very ordinary parking lot when they arrived at their destination. 

“Great,” Rey mumbled sarcastically under her breath when she didn’t find anything behind the last bush. It was already nearing four thirty, and they were only at their third stop. To be honest, Rey just wanted this stupid city wide scavenger hunt to end, but nope.

She was about to go off to search underneath each car, when Ben called her. 

“You found it?” She asked ecstatically, nearly skipping over to him. 

He nodded. “This was duct taped under one of the parking pay stations.”

It was a small black lock box with a white envelope taped on top of it. 

Rey pulled the envelope off and groaned in frustration when she found a map of Presidio Park with ten circles and a puzzle piece with the word “key” written in the middle. 

Ben combed his fingers through his hair. “So we have to go to each spot in the map, gather the puzzle pieces to find the clue to the location of the key?” He asked, not bothering to hide his exasperation. 

Rey was about to resign herself to the prospect when an idea suddenly came to her. “Can I see the box?” 

She turned the box around a few times and studied the lock. It looked rudimentary. She scoured around for an appropriate makeshift pick and returned with a piece of loose metal from near the fence.

Ben raised an eyebrow. “You pick locks?” 

“Yeah, I used to...” Rey trailed off when Ben frowned. Shit, he must think he just married a thief or something. “It was only to sneak into Plutt’s house and shop. I swear I wasn’t a cat b—”

His voice was stiff as he asked, “He locked you out?” 

“He was a very heavy sleeper after a few drinks and he didn’t like it when I used his shop for my personal projects, so,” she shrugged dismissively, she didn’t want to be pitied. “Anyway, I know how to pick cheap locks. What do you think?” 

“Isn’t that cheating?” 

She raised an eyebrow. She thought Ben would be jumping in joy since he was so exasperated at the prospect of finding the key. “You have an issue with that?” 

“ _No_ , but I thought  _ you  _ wanted to humor your friends.” 

Rey gave a lazy shrug. “I humored them for two full hours, besides it’s not really cheating. They never said we can’t skip stops.” 

Ben made a sound that was in between a snort and a laugh. Taking that as his approval, Rey began to work on the lock. 

The box opened on the third try. Rey instantly deflated when she saw what was inside. No phone, no wallet, no cash. All that was inside were two Ghiradelli chocolates, two clipper cards for transit, and a little note that read “‘Sable’ and ‘Meer’.” Whatever that meant.

“‘Sable’ is ‘sand’ in French and ‘Meer’ is ‘sea’ in German,” Ben thought aloud as he peered at the clue. “I guess they want us to go to that beach in front of Ghirardelli Square?”

“Wait, you know French and German?” 

“Enough for traveling. I speak Spanish better.” 

Ben said it like it was nothing, like everyone knew four plus languages. Rey only knew English, unless she counted programming languages. It was unfair how talented he was when he was already so rich and handsome. Some people just seemed to have everything. 

That, and the fact they were very far from Ghirardelli Square and she was getting tired of the game made her give a long, depressed sigh. 

“If you are up for more shortcuts, maybe we can try going straight to the final destination.”

Rey perked up. “You know where that is?” 

“Not exactly, but they said we could get our stuff back at the final destination, so the end point must be where my phone and wallet are, right?” 

Rey nodded. 

“I have trackers on my phone and wallet and I have my work badge on me, so if we make it to the First Order office, I can hop on my computer and find out where they are.” 

Rey wasn’t sure if she wanted to hit him more or hug him more. “Why didn’t you say something earlier?” 

* * *

The trackers led them to the W hotel. 

Rey had passed by the W countless times on Uber rides but she never set foot inside. The two things she knew about the W was that it was a popular hotel for business travelers and conference goers and that there had to be a fairly popular lounge inside judging by the long line outside on Fridays and Saturdays. Neither of those two pieces of knowledge made her want to visit. She lived in San Francisco so she didn’t need a hotel, and the drinks at hotel bars were notoriously overpriced. As such, Rey didn’t really know what to expect when she pushed open the door to the rather nondescript tall commercial building.

She stepped in, and she was instantly surrounded by dimmed lighting, modern decor, and colorful LEDs. People were buzzing around them and the lounge was surprisingly busy for a Thursday evening, possibly because of the live band she could hear. It felt far more like a nightclub than a fancy hotel. She wasn’t surprised when she saw a deep scowl appear on Ben’s face. 

“Let me guess, you hate this place,” Rey said over the music.

Ben grunted affirmative. 

“I think it looks pretty nice,” she added, because it was fun to contradict him. 

He snorted. “You have bad taste.” 

“Nope, you’re just old.”

Ben peered down at her and narrowed his eyes, but there wasn't any heat behind the look, so Rey found herself breaking into giggles. 

“And you’re an entitled Millennial,” Ben retorted a moment later.

“So are you!”

His lips tilted up. “Hmm, if we’re in the same age group...”

She swatted his arm. “Hey! Are you implying I’m also old?”

He smirked. 

Rey was still trying to think up a clever response to wipe the smirk off his face when she spotted Poe and Finn in the crowd. In the excitement of the moment, she grabbed Ben’s hand, only realizing what she had done when she felt his initial resistance. Thinking it would be more awkward to suddenly let go, she committed and dragged him along with her. She tried her best to ignore the way his long fingers gradually curled around hers and the way the cool metal of his wedding band rubbed gently on the side of her fingers.

Married. They were married. It was such an impossible, bizarre fact.

“We’ve made it.” 

Finn and Poe swirled around. 

“You guys cheated!” Finn cried the moment he saw her, looking miffed. “Solo is a bad influence.” 

“Hey, we did not cheat. You just said we would get a prize if we found the final stop. I assume we got the stop right, since you two are here,” she responded, refusing to back down.

Poe clicked his tongue. “It’s a scavenger hunt, it’s implied you have to follow the clues.”

“You don’t know we didn’t follow the clues.”

Finn rolled his eyes. “There’s no way you did the whole map so quickly.” 

“We’re just that good.” Ben said in an irritable tone.

“We know you didn’t do the second half of the course,” Poe said matter-of-factly, crossing his arms, “We put a tile sticker in your sneakers, we know approximately where you went.” 

Rey gaped. “You  _ what _ ?”

Finn looked sheepish. “Sorry Peanut, we couldn’t figure out another way to track your progress in case you got stuck. It’s in your right shoe underneath the sole.” 

She shot him her best ‘screw you’ look and pulled off her shoe, unearthing the tracker and sticking it on Poe’s pint glass. “That’s unethical.” 

Poe passed her a small bag obviously to appease her. “You tracked us here too, so let’s call it even?” 

Rey pursed her lips and looked into the bag, which contained their phones, wallets, and keys, plus a few packages of Japanese candies, her favorites. Those devious bastards, they knew exactly how to soothe her rage. She passed the bag to Ben so he could have his phone back. “Fine, truce. Are we staying here for a bit? Should I get a drink?”

“Nah, our spot should be ready soon, wait until then. We will give you your prize in the meantime,” Finn said. It must be something substantial since he looked excited. 

“There’s another prize?” Rey was surprised, since she thought the candies were the prize. 

“Yup. Rose is just getting—” he waved at someone behind her. “Ah, there she is.” 

An arm came over her shoulder from behind. Rose swung in front of with a huge grin. “Hellllloooo, my favorite sapiosexual newly-wed lovebirds.” 

Rey was glad she wasn’t drinking anything, because if she was she would have choked. Her face flushed again. “Uh, hi, Rose.”

“Aw, no need to be so embarrassed, there’s no shame in being turned on by intelligence,” Rose said, stuffing a little silver folio into her free hand.

“We got you an upper floor suite!” Rose explained proudly, before leaning in and adding in a low voice that only she could hear. “I wonder how many push-ups he can do in bed?”

_ Push-ups… _ Rey suddenly wished the Earth to open up and swallow her whole. She stole a glance at Ben, who looked aloof on the surface, but Rey could see the undercurrent of uneasiness in his eyes. 

“Wow, you guys really didn’t need to,” she managed.

“We didn’t think it would be appropriate for you to spend your first night at your rat infested apartment,” Rose said, completely missing her sarcasm. 

Ben gave her a disturbed look that clearly said:  _ Rat infested?  _

Before Rey could say a word in defense of her home, Poe jumped in. “I am sure she would just go to Solo’s cushy condo even if we didn’t give them the gift. I highly doubt he would let her stay in her death trap on their wedding night.” 

“Guys, my place isn’t  _ that  _ bad. I have only seen rats twice.” 

Finn rolled his eyes hard. “You’re supposed to see rats  _ zero _ times and didn’t they recently post a notice downstairs about how your place is about to collapse any minute?” 

Ben was now sending her horrified look that screamed:  _ Collapse? _

“It’s not going to collapse, it’s just not up to seismic code,” Rey assured him. 

“That doesn’t sound safe,” Ben said tersely. 

“Thank you!” Rose cried with a wave of her arm. “That’s what we’ve been trying to tell her for ages.” 

Poe finished the last of his beer with one gulp. “Well, at least now that they are married, Rey can finally move out of that shithole.”

Rey refused to give her friends the satisfaction of a response. Her place was the best $1500 a month could get her without a roommate in the city, thank you very much. She was actually sad she had to move out, but Phasma made it clear she couldn’t keep a lease under her own name if she wanted a visa, so she had no choice. She felt tired just thinking about the prospect of finding a sublease on Craigslist, but that was an issue for another day.

Rose glanced at an incoming message on her phone and straightened up. “Hey, our spot is ready.”

* * *

By spot, Rey has assumed a spot at the restaurant, so she was a little confused when Rose led them to a door on the second floor. Her confusion only increased when Poe opened said door and she saw a room full of people in the middle of a private party complete with a DJ and full buffet. 

“Whose party is this?” She asked Rose. 

Rose snorted. “Yours, silly.”

Her answer didn’t quite compute. She recognized a few people in the room from Resistance but most of the others are strangers. The scene in front of her looked more like a corporate party than anything. Even if Rose, Poe, and Finn were generous they— 

“I am going to fucking kill Hux,” Ben grumbled next to her. 

Rey blinked in confusion. “Hux?”

As if summoned, Hux stepped through the crowd toward them. ”Pretty impressive for a last minute stunt, right?”

“Did you invite half of the department here?” Ben hissed. 

He sneered. “Technically, I only invited your knights and your knights invited everyone,” he said, then, placing his hand on his heart dramatically, he added, “I spend all this effort and this is how you thank me?”

Ben glared at him. “What effort? You obviously made Mikata organize this.”

Hux turned his nose up. “I supplied the contacts.”

“You know I didn’t want to make a big deal out of this,” Ben snapped. 

“I do, but you’re getting a party and you’re paying for it,” Hux replied with a smirk. “The team gets the party they wanted, you get a nice big bill to prove your relationship is real to immigration, and I get to annoy the hell out of you. Win-win.”

Hux chuckled when Ben didn’t stop glaring. “Don’t worry, I told Mikata to keep the budget below 15k.”

“Fifteen  _ thousand  _ dollars?” Rey almost shouted in shock. “On a  _ party _ ?”

Hux raised an eyebrow. “15k is cheap for something so last minute.” He paused and studied her face for a moment. “Oh, if you’re worried about Solo’s wallet, don’t be. This is pocket change for him.”

This was utter insanity. Fifteen thousand dollars was the entirety of her savings. It was definitely not pocket change and— Why wasn’t Ben correcting him? And why was he suddenly looking worried? 

“What did Sno—” Ben stopped suddenly and looked at her and her friends then back at Hux. “Let’s talk outside.”

Rey watched the two men leave. She wondered what that was all about. It was probably something to do with work, she concluded and shrugged, deciding it was none of her business.

“Peanut? Want to go grab some food and drinks with us?” asked Finn.

Her stomach growled at the idea food, reminding her how little she ate the whole day. Insanity or not, the party was already paid for and she might as well enjoy herself. 

* * *

“To Rey and happiness!” Toasted Cova.

The Resistance crew held their glasses high and cheered. Rey took a measured sip of her wine. She had been pacing herself out of necessity, mostly because Poe had rounded up everyone she knew and there had been nonstop toasting.

“Got To Keep On” by the Chemical Brothers, Finn’s new favorite song came on, and he loudly declared it was time to go dance. 

“Come on, Peanut!” he said, trying to pull Rey up from her seat, but she shook her head.

“I’m sitting this one out,” she told him, too exhausted to get up. 

Jannah, a First Order girl that Finn made friends with earlier called him over, and Finn finally gave up.

She sank into the couch, hoping for some peace and quiet (relative, of course, the music was loud), but a minute barely passed before a group of six men stopped at a table near her.

They spoke quietly to each other, and at first she thought they just happened at the free table but when she caught them stealing glances at her for the third time Rey decided enough was enough and she would move to escape their scrutiny. 

“What did I tell you?” Rey heard one of the men, hissed to his companions and approached her. He looked to be around Ben's age, he had dark brown hair, olive skin, handsome features, and a barely discernible Indian accent. “Sorry, we didn’t mean to scare you. We work for your husband and we just got curious about who he married.”

It was disconcerting hearing Ben being referred to as her husband, she barely managed to keep her expression neutral. She gathered everything she heard about Ben’s work in the last two weeks and remembered what he and Hux called his team leads. “Are you guys... the knights?”

The man laughed. “Wow, the boss talks about us?”

Rey reminded herself to smile. “A little. I’m Rey.”

He gestured to the rest of his group to come over and make an introduction. “I am Ushar, and this is Ap'lek, Cardo, Kuruk, Trudgen, and Vicrul. We’re what people call the Knights of Ren.”

The name sounded familiar. Knights of Ren. Knights of  _ Ren _ . 

Rey’s eyes widened. 

Ben called it a nickname… Were they called the Knights of Ren because each “knight” had a handle that ended with ‘Ren’? If that was the case then… kyloren. She knew for a while now that he worked at First Order. Was he using his work handle the whole time? If he was then… could one of the knights be kyloren? Rey felt her head spinning. 

It would probably be weird to ask about ‘kyloren’ out of the blue, and she wasn’t sure if she really want to cross the line, but who knew if she would have another chance to—

“Rey.”

Rey jumped and turned to find Ben behind her, glowering. 

Did she offend him by talking to his team? “Ah, sorry, I just—”

“Were they harassing you?”

It was only then that Rey realized he wasn’t glowering at her but at the Knights of Ren. “No,” she said quickly, not wanting to get anyone in trouble, “They were just introducing themselves.”

His eyes softened minutely. “Good.” 

Then, he turned back to his team with the same irked expression he had when he questioned Hux about the party earlier. “I heard from Hux you were the ones who sent out my wedding party invitations.”

The knights laughed nervously.

“I’ve put an eight o’clock catch up call on your calendar for tomorrow. I want to see an updated release plan for the next quarter from each of you.”

The knights looked at each other, but only one of them was brave enough to speak up. 

“I may have a conflict. Can we reschedule to a different time?” Asked one of the knights, Rey couldn’t remember if he was Kuruk or Cardo. She decided to call him Kurdo in her head.

“We can do the call at six-thirty instead,” Ben countered coolly.

Kurdo grimaced as his peers sent him daggers. “I’ll make eight o’clock work.”

The group excused themselves soon after, something about needing to finish their work. When they were gone, Rey couldn’t help but ask, “Is eight really your only free slot tomorrow?”

Ben didn’t answer but the twitch of his lips told her everything she needed to know. The meeting was his revenge.

He took a seat on the couch and she settled down into the couch next to him. The sides of her shin were touching his and she was secretly pleased when he didn’t move away. She fought a yawn. “How was your talk with Hux?” 

“Long,” Ben said and took a draw of his whiskey. 

Seeing he had no inclination to expand, Rey spoke again. “Are you really going to have to pay for this whole thing? I can help, but it would have to be in installments or something.”

“Don’t worry about it.”

“But—”

“If it makes you feel better, I lost a bet in May, so I owe the team a party anyway.” She must have looked unconvinced because Ben took another sip of his drink and sighed. “You’ll have to learn to let me pay for things, Rey, I am not lowering my standard of living just because we’re married.” 

She frowned, not fully understanding how her need for fiscal fairness would impact his quality of life, but she was really too exhausted to argue with him. “If that’s the case, then, at least this time, I’ll just say thank you.” 

She leaned back into the couch and watched him mindlessly tilt his glass until the whiskey inside spun around. It’s a little surreal to see the wedding ring on his finger that matched her own. Two weeks ago she bumped into him on the street, two almost strangers, and now—for better or worse—their lives were linked together in the foreseeable future and she was… thankful.

“Not just for the party,” she clarified because she wanted him to know, “or for marrying me, but also—” she meant it to be a heartfelt thank you, but a yawn escaped out of her, ruining the moment. Her face flushed but she forced herself to finish the sentence, “for humoring me the whole day.” 

Ben seemed amused by her failure. “If you're tired, you can rest a bit.”

Her eyes were heavy, it was hard to keep them open, but— “I don’t want to get kicked out because they think I’m wasted.”

Ben chuckled. “I don’t think they would kick a bride out of her own wedding party.”

He made a good point and resting her eyes a little just sounded so nice...

“Here,” he said abruptly, nodding at his shoulder.

She blinked up at him in surprise and his eyes darted bashfully down to the floor. He cleared his throat. “It may be more comfortable.”

It was her turn to chuckle because it was too cute how shy he got sometimes. “Don’t complain if your shoulder is stiff afterward,” she teased sleepily. “My head is pretty heavy, big brain and all.”

He rolled his eyes and reached over to pull her head to him. “I think I can handle it.”

It was impressive how he still smelled nice after such a long day, she found herself thinking. She shifted until she found a comfortable position and closed her eyes. “You won’t let people draw on my face if I fall asleep, right?”

“Tempting, but no.”

“It might be hard to wake me if I fall asleep now.”

“I’ll figure something out.”

“What if—”

“Just go to sleep already.”

She smiled into his shirt. “I had fun today, Ben,” she told him before she let herself relax.

In between sleep and wakefulness, she couldn’t be sure, but she thought she heard him reply softly, “Me too.” 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> \----------------jargons_and_technical_and_SF_stuff.txt----------------
> 
> Fortune Cookie: The shop that created the customized fortune cookie in this chapter is the Golden Gate Fortune Cookie Factory. This is a very cool shop in a back alley in SF Chinatown, it’s truly a piece of history and the cookies there are ultra yummy. This is Rey’s favorite for a reason! Unfortunately, it is currently under threat of closing due to rent increase. https://sf.curbed.com/2019/3/7/18254377/golden-gate-fortune-cookie-factory-chinatown-rent-eviction
> 
> Scavenger Hunt v2.0: The version of scavenger hunt you read about in this chapter is actually a much tamer, 2.0 version. In the original version Poe and Finn planned much more ridiculous challenges. One of the original challenges they thought of was to put Ben's phone in a waterproof bag and make him dive for it in the bay. Kaydel and Rose vetoed the idea along with the other insane ideas they had. 
> 
> Japantown: A compact historic enclave in the Western Addition in SF just off Geary and Webster. Large indoor/outdoor complexes house an assortment of sushi, ramen and shabu-shabu restaurants, specialty grocery stores, karaoke bars and Asian-style day spas. A courtyard plaza with a concrete, 5-tiered Peace Pagoda regularly hosts community events such as the annual Cherry Blossom Festival. It’s a little far from where Rey lives, so she doesn’t go there frequently, but she enjoys her visits whenever she has a chance. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Japantown,_San_Francisco
> 
> Barry’s Bootcamp: A chain of boutique exercise gym that specializes in high intensive interval training classes. Barry’s is popular amongst rich tech folks Silicon Valley and is infamous for its intense work out and high price tag ($38 a class!). Rose has to be ultra fit to teach at Barry’s. 
> 
> Presidio: A 1,500-acre park on a former military post, is a major outdoor recreation hub. It has forested areas, miles of trails, a golf course and scenic overlooks. Rey occasionally goes to Presidio for the weekly Sunday food truck event called Off the Grid. https://www.presidio.gov/
> 
> Tile Sticker: Bluetooth based trackers that can be used to track the approximate location of your items. The sticker version is about the size of a penny but thicker. https://www.thetileapp.com/en-us/
> 
> The W: SF W is a luxury downtown hotel owned by Marriott. The W chain is marketed towards a younger age group than their other upscale properties, and this is why it’s ultra modern and looks kind of like a club. Ben is not a fan. https://www.marriott.com/hotels/travel/sfowh-w-san-francisco/
> 
> \----------------Other Notes----------------
> 
> I have written a fix-it one-shot called Across the Chasm, She Jumped (https://archiveofourown.org/works/23252305). Feel free to have a read when you have a chance! :)
> 
> (I am @arcnlumi on twitter if you want some periodic updates)


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